Intel Powers Glasses?

Fashion eyeglass designer Luxottica will be making “smart glasses” in partnership with chipmaker Intel, the two companies announced on Wednesday (Dec. 3) at the International Luxury Conference in Miami.

The companies said their first wearables product should come next year, but they offered up few other details on either the deal or what kind of wearables might come out of it, according to eWeek.

The deal with Intel isn’t the first wearable-computing alliance for Luxottica, which makes eyewear brands that include Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue Eyewear and Persol. Earlier this year Luxottica launched a partnership with Google, whose Google Glass may be the best known (and least fashionable) among smart glasses.

The Intel-Luxotica announcement comes two days after reports surfaced that Google will begin using Intel processors in Google Glass, replacing the Texas Instruments processors it had been using. That could indicate that Google will provide the software, Intel the CPUs and Luxottica the fashion design for the new wearables, but the companies didn’t confirm that with the announcement.

Intel has also partnered with luxury retailer Opening Ceremony for a high-end smart bracelet called the MICA (for My Intelligent Communication Accessory) that features pearls, lapis stones, Russian obsidian and Tiger’s Eye, black and white water snake skin, 18 karat gold plating and a curved sapphire glass touch-screen display. It will be sold starting this month in Barneys and Opening Ceremony stores for $495.