When
Google Glass surfaced in 2012, ideas flew around about what it could
bring to the table, including but not limited to video-chatting with
family, taking photos, browsing the Web and messaging friends just about
anywhere without even touching the device. And a year later consumers
had the chance to test it out, albeit at the hefty price of $1,500 a
unit.
But after nearly two years of being subjected to public backlash over
its design and privacy concerns, Google has sent it back to the
drawing board and
put it under the auspices of Tony Fadell, the man behind Apple's iPod
and Google's Nest smart thermostat. While the company says it’s not the
end of the Google Glass project as a whole, it’s clear there's major
work required to make Glass viable in the market. So what does Google
need to do for Glass to take off in its next revamp?
Define exactly what its purpose is
With the limited public beta launch of “Explorer” Glass models,
Google cast a wide net hoping to appeal to consumers as well as
enterprise customers. After the initial hype wore off, interest quickly
dropped for the former, causing many developers to abandon their
consumer apps for Glass. In lieu of consumer interest, many of those
developers shifted focus to enterprise app development for Glass, a
sector where smart glasses are finding more success.
“CES showed that the use case for smart glasses is in the enterprise,
for example, police and military, security, warehouse, remote
assistance and barcode scanning, and, in the consumer space, for gaming
and sports entertainment,...focused task-specific use cases,” Nick
Spencer, ABI Research senior practice director, mobile devices and
wearables, said. “Google Glass, on the other hand, was generalized in
its use case and positioned as a smartphone replacement which was
problematic on many levels.”
While wearables as a whole are considered a growing market, smart
glasses are expected to see the most growth through enterprise, with
over 10 million units projected to be shipped by 2018, compared to 1.2
million consumer units, according to ABI Research data.
And it’s a trend Google subtly acknowledged in its blog post that announced the end of the program.
“Glass at Work has been growing and we’re seeing incredible developments with Glass in the workplace,” Google
wrote.
Address privacy issues
Glass Explorers were eager to take their new wearable gadget just
about everywhere. But many quickly found they were less than welcome in
some venues while wearing the gadget. Movie theaters were quick to ban
it because of its video recording
capabilities. And some restaurants and bars banned the wearable, citing
privacy concerns.
Even if Google improves the design of glass to be less obtrusive,
privacy concerns aren’t expected to go away anytime soon on the consumer
end, mainly due to the built-in camera.
“They left it in an experimental phase and underestimated the
ruthlessness of the consumer press cycle,” CrowdOptic CEO Jon Fisher
said. “It has no business walking into a bar.”
But on the enterprise side, privacy is much less of a concern.
“In the enterprise case there are less obstacles,” Carolina Milanesi,
Kantar World Panel, chief of research and head of U.S. ComTech
business, said. “Design doesn’t matter as much -- it never does with
enterprise. And the usual privacy issues are more limited, since you use
it in a more controlled environment.”
Live streaming
While Glass failed to take off with consumers, developers are finding
more applications for the device in the professional field, especially
with video streaming. In one case, Stanford University
surgeons
in training were able to use Google Glass and CrowdOptic live streaming
software to broadcast their view to instructors. It has the potential
to open up more use cases, such as live video from an athlete’s point of
view.
But for Glass to be used in such as manner on a regular basis, it
will have to overcome issues of battery life (about 30 minutes of
recording before the battery dies) as well as its reliance on a Wi-Fi or
a mobile device connection to send and receive data.
“We think once Google is able to livestream from these glasses
anywhere -- it’s difficult -- that’s going to be one of the primary
reasons to wear glasses in the future,” Fisher said.
Hardware problems
Beyond addressing battery constraints, Google will also have to find a
way to reduce the heat generated by Glass, which were found to reach
“uncomfortable” levels for users, according to a
study
by Rice University in Houston. A fix for this may already be in the
works, with Intel rumored to replace Texas Instruments as the supplier
of low-power processors for future Google Glass models, according to the
Wall Street Journal.
Aesthetically, Google still has a long way to go with Glass' design,
which remains bulky and obtrusive, even with custom frames designed by
American fashion designer
Diane von Furstenberg and a partnership with eyewear juggernaut
Luxottica.
Should Google find a way to shrink Glass to be a nearly unnoticable
part of the frame, it may be an improvement to the design. But it may
come with its own new set of privacy concerns as a result.
Hey, Glasshole!
Even with technical changes to Google Glass, the one hurdle Google
may have trouble clearing is the stigma of the “Glasshole,” a derogatory
nickname given to Google Glass users. The company has made some effort
to mitigate the term through various online posts, including in a
Glass etiquette guide that acknowledges it.
Yet since the introduction of Glass, the term “Glasshole” has grown
to represent something more: the divide between the haves and have nots,
as seen in San Francisco last year, where a
Business Insider
reporter had Glass snatched off his face and later smashed on the
ground shortly after covering a local protest. While it's possible that
the Glasshole image may fade, it's unlikely to go away anytime soon
while Glass carries its premium $1,500 price tag.
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