I waited a few days to chime in as I wanted to do some digging around.
The technology is very much the same as our in-office Auto-refractors. They are effective on seniors and dilated pupils, but not much else. The problem lies with the fact it can not compensate for the fact you are focusing at near.
It is a big stretch to say it will make Eye examinations obsolete. The Technology will likely be bought out by a big chain and implemented in office.
As for buying your glasses and contacts online, the water just got a lot murkier. Clearly Contacts was just purchased by Essilor (who is owned by Luxottica). That means that Luxottica now control over 25% of the Canadian marketplace. It is likely a defensive measure to eliminate competition (or control the online marketplace).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/clea...445m-1.2553349
These are the Opticals owned by this one company now :
Coastal Contacts (clearly contacts).
Sunglass Hut International
LensCrafters
Pearle Vision
Pearle Opticians
Sears Optical
Target Optical
OPSM
ILORI
Bright Eyes
Budget Eyewear
Cole Vision Care
Optical Shop of Aspen
Surfeyes
Laubman & Pank
ICON
Grand Optics LLC
As for not going to an Optometrist.. i will just leave this link here showing the Prevalence of asymptomatic Eye disease.
http://www.optometrists.bc.ca/upload...ye_Disease.pdf
Basically 1/7 have an Asymptomatic eye disease of some type.