Google smart glasses
First unveiled in 2013, Google Glass was initially marketed to a general audience, promising to give people access to a computer on their face instead of pulling out a phone.
The company’s announcement this week will effectively kill the trend of new wearables but fall short of another era that many consumers may think is long gone.
First unveiled in 2013, Google Glass was initially marketed to a general audience, promising to give people access to a computer on their face instead of pulling out a phone. But suspicions ended in 2015 when beta versions failed to gain traction due to their high cost, fraudulent features and privacy concerns, according to CNN Business.
Google then changed its focus from consumers to businesses. The first Enterprise edition of Glass, announced in 2017, is intended for use in industries such as manufacturing and logistics. Enterprise Edition 2, released in 2019, is Google’s latest attempt to protect Glass products. But the $999 product was not available, CNN Business reported.
“Thank you for more than a decade of innovation and collaboration,” Google wrote in its FAQ page announcing the decision. The company will continue to support the discontinued Enterprise edition from September, according to CNN Business.
Google did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. Google’s decision to end the product comes with cost cuts across the company. Like many of its peers, Google recently announced plans to lay off thousands of people due to fears of a recession and a shift to digital products. But the dream of Google Glass lives on. Snapchat’s parent company sells Spectacles, another set of glasses that has struggled over the years to gain traction. CNN Business said that Apple will work on augmented reality glasses. And even after the Glass setback, Google said last year that it was still testing other AR glasses.
“Augmented Reality (AR) opens up new ways to interact with the world around us,” the company said in a blog post last summer. “It can help us quickly and easily get the information we need, like understanding another language or knowing how to get from point A to point B.”
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