New Google Glass Version Coming This Year 4:17
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WSJ's Alistair Barr has exclusive details of Google's plan to discontinue the initial version of Glass while revamping its strategy of rolling out tech products to the public. Photo: Getty.
- WSJ Live
- 16 Jan 2015
- Technology
GOOGLE’S internet savvy spectacles will be pulled from sale before they reach Australia, the internet giant revealed yesterday.
The first and best known example of smartglasses, Google Glass, will no longer be available for sale overseas after Monday as the company “transitions” the internet-savvy spectacles from its experimental Google X laboratory to its own department.
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The company made its announcement on its social network yesterday, saying it had “outgrown the lab”.
What’s next? ... Google has put together a new Google Glass team. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
“As part of this transition, we’re closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next,” the statement read.
“January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we’re continuing to build for the future, and you’ll start to see future versions of Glass when they’re ready.”
Google’s tech glasses are going back to the drawing board. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
The new Google Glass team will include Tony Fadell, the former Nest chief executive who is credited with designing Apple’s iPod.
Google Glass first captured attention in 2012 and featured a long right arm with a touch-sensitive pad for control, and a tiny screen positioned above the eye.
When connected to a smartphone or wireless internet connection, users could read, dictate and send text messages, conduct web searches, see navigation instructions, or check their calendar on its screen.
Seeing double ... Google co-founder Sergey Brin wears a Google Glass device. Picture: AP Source: AP
Google Glass Explorer Edition spectacles went on sale in the US for $1500 in May last year, but were never released in Australia.
Despite this, many Australian businesses embraced the technology, including Domino’s Pizza, Safety Culture, and Telstra, which developed an AFL app for the glasses.
Domino's trainer Stewart Lyne gave Google Glass a go. Photo: Claudia Baxter Source: News Corp Australia
Though Google will no longer sell smartglasses, other technology firms are plotting to enter the category, with Epson, Toshiba and Sony showing working models and prototypes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.