Major news outlets including ABC, BBC, Telegraph, etc. broke the news that Google is halting the distribution of Google Glass in its current form and have announced a major change in the organization. This came after the Wall Street Journal reported the news that Google Glass will not exist anymore in its current form.
Alistair Barr from WSJ broke the news in a video interview that can be found here in its full length of over 4 min.
In the video Barr announced that Google will stop the distribution of its current Google Glass model through the Explorer program. Instead the Google Glass team will regroup and report in the future to the CEO of NEST, Tony Fadell and ex-Apple executive. It will become a self standing business unit instead of being part of the famous Google X research operation. If you are familiar with any large company organization this is a very normal development that happens with all products that the executive management deems fit to enter the market stream.
The Google Glass team itself commented on this development as “We’re graduating from Google[x] labs“. As they point out, their journey from very crude prototypes has brought them to sleek products that allowed them to assess the market and determine what potential customers want. If you want to invest $1,500 into the latest Google Glass model as a long term investment, you can do so until January 19, after which the distribution will be stopped.
The following image shows their internal development of the device, with some of the models looking as though they came directly from a science fiction movie.
The Wall Street Journal report hints at certain improvements Google is planning for its Glass 2.0 model, which is expected to appear in 2015. Barr hints that Google will change direction slightly in its product development to be more in line with Apple, in respect of more developed and tested hardware, rather than releasing earlier models and promising fixes for later. The report compares this to a difference between hardware product and software development. Google actually called the current Google Glass “a prototype with a lot of glitches”.
Another issue Google may want to address is the privacy and social interaction issue that many have voiced as a concern, and that is the use of the device in public. Besides the discussed use of a light to show when the device is in use, Google may take a step back to aim the next generation at specific use modes rather than the “wear it all day” approach of the first device.
The report stated that Google will, however, continue to sell Google Glass to companies and developers for work-related applications.
When Google was asked if that means that it is giving up on the concept for the consumer market, Google replied that wearables are too important to give up after the first trial run. Of course, this answer implies that Google views the current version of Google Glass as a failure, or at least as impossible to successfully launch at the moment. – Norbert Hildebrand
