Society and business in the 21st Century
The original Google Glass program closed down at the beginning of this year and bought to an end the first stages of the highest profile virtual reality headset project.
At the time, the company flagged Glass was entering another stage and now the 9to5Google site reports an enterprise edition is well underway.
Despite the focus on consumer and gaming applications, enterprise applications in fields such as logistics and safety have been the bigger immediate opportunities for these products.
The race for computers that work in glasses is hotting up and there’s no guarantee Google will be the winner.
The news that wearable technology company Recon has secured funding from Intel and shipped fifty thousand devices reminds us that it’s not just Google who are in the market developing glasses that work as computers.
Other companies competing with Google include Glass Up, an Italian startup that’s teamed with Australian company Nubis to provide a wearable device that’s controlled by a smart phone app.
It’s tempting to think that the battle for wearable technology will be won by Google as they are biggest and best funded company, but history shows us size and incumbency don’t always guarantee success.
Google themselves have failed many times when they’ve tried to enter new markets, regardless of the money and resources they’ve thrown at the market.
The best recent example of this is Microsoft’s forays into smartphones and tablet computers during the Windows XP period – A decade ago it was obvious to everyone that Windows based phones and tablets would dominate those markets.
As it turned out the clunky and awkward to use devices scared customers away and it was Apple and Steve Jobs who ended up being the dominant players.
So it may well be that a company we’ve written off – maybe Microsoft – who might end up being the leader in wearable computers, although it’s more likely an upstart like Recon or Glass Up will eventually be the leader.
It may even be that glasses don’t work out as wearable computers at all.
