Is there a place for Google Glass in the burgeoning consumer wearable tech market?While wearable tech is set for steep growth in the coming years, there are questions being asked about the viability and the place of Google Glass, one of the forerunners of the wearables rush, in the consumer wearable tech market.
Indeed, it appears interest in some sectors is waning.
Last month, Reuters contacted 16 Glass app makers, with nine saying they had stopped work on their projects or abandoned them, with the main reason being lack of customers or limitations of the device, while three more had switched to developing for business instead of consumer projects.
Reuters further reported a number of Google employees who played a key role in developing Glass had left the company in the last six months, including lead developer Babak Parviz, electrical engineering chief Adrian Wong, and Ossama Alami, director of developer relations.
So, where to now for Glass?
As reported by Reuters, Google states it is committed to Glass.
“We are completely energised and as energised as ever about the opportunity that wearables and Glass in particular represent,” Reuters reported Glass head of business operations Chris O’Neill as stating, with O’Neill further stating Google is “as committed as ever to a consumer launch”.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported people familiar with the matter as stating an Intel chip is set to be used in the next version of Glass.
One of the people told the WSJ Intel plans to promote Glass to companies including hospital networks and manufacturers and to develop new workplace uses for the device.
As Glass navigates its position in the wearables market, its future could well be in business and professional applications.
The Glass at Work program, launched this year, sees Google working with partners to deliver enterprise solutions for Glass, such as in the manufacturing and healthcare industries.
The WSJ, however, reported Google still views Glass primarily as a consumer device, with a person familiar with the business telling the WSJ more than 300 Google employees work on Glass and fewer than 5 per cent focus on Glass at Work.
Intel’s involvement won’t change this focus, the person further told the WSJ.
