If you scroll back a few entries you’ll find a post I wrote aboutGoogle Glass and how I didn’t think it would ever see the light of day as a released product. Then, lo and behold, I see this post from TechCrunch reporting this very thing. Now it would be easy for me to proclaim myself a genius with the foresight of a shaman, but the truth of three master is that there is much more to the story than Google Glass failing to become a product.
Gone….for now…
While Glass won’t become a product, there is still a lot of technology that went into the making of the product. Where that technology goes will be vital to future development of mobile / wearable technology at
Google. I want to refer to another post about Glass and how it’s not the end of the product or the platform. PC World has a great post about the future of Glass being in the working environment rather than for the general consumer. “Surgeons and engineers are especially interested in using the product” the post says. Apparently surgeons have used it to record surgeries for distance learning and engineers and technicians are keen to use the product while in a tight space or a dark space to access maintenance or repair manuals. Personally, I could see that application working very well if they were to pair the Google Glass model with safety glasses. I could see that working for many tradesmen such as mechanics, electricians, plumbers, and computer hardware technicians working in server bays in some God-forsaken closet or hole in the wall, just to name a few.
So while I may have predicted that Google Glass would not make it as a product, I was not so accurate on the possible uses for Google Glass other than a mass consumer product. If Tony Fadell can take it and guide it toward a niche market that will be able to sustain itself, it could be a viable product. Mr. Fadell is definitely the right person for the job, as the founder of Nest, the company behind the Nest Thermostats and Nest Smoke / Carbon Monoxide detectors. After Google bought the company recently, they have appointed him to be in charge of the division that Glass is now a part of.
If there is a chance to pick up the pieces and make something of the Glass, it is with Mr. Fadell. Who knows? He might just come up with a work of art.
What do you think? Will there be a second life for Google Glass, or a use for the technology developed for it? Comments below.
Over to you.
~ todd
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