Google to stop selling the current version of Google Glass

[Arthur]

Sources: Google / The Verge / BBC News

 

The fate of Google Glass has been up in the air these past few months, as developers seem to have stopped paying attention to the new-age eyewear and Glasshole sightings have decreased significantly. But Glass isn't done yet: Google's announcing today Glass is "graduating" from the Google X experimental projects incubator to become its own independent division — a division that will report into Nest's Tony Fadell. Current Glass head Ivy Ross will retain day-to-day authority, but she'll report to Fadell. Nest itself will remain separate and independent, and Tony will still be in charge there as well.

 

"Early Glass efforts have broken ground and allowed us to learn what’s important to consumers and enterprises alike," says Fadell. "I'm excited to be working with Ivy to provide direction and support as she leads the team and we work together to integrate those learnings into future products. I remain fully committed to Nest and am equally excited about our work there, which continues to accelerate."

 

As part of this transition, we're closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next. 19 January 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. (For now, no peeking).

Edited January 15, 2015 by Arthur

[elsiegee40]

BBC News - Google to 'start again' with Glass project

 

Google is starting again from scratch with its Glass project, reports the New York Times.

 

Sales of the controversial smart spectacles were halted in January and development of the prototype was also believed to have been stopped.

 

Glass development is now being driven by former Apple gadget designer Tony Fadell, who has "reset" the project.

 

The new version will be developed internally and only released when finished, the newspaper said.

[Arthur]

The NYT article that the BBC reference is very interesting. It would appear that it was all Sergey Brin's fault.

 

Why Google Glass Broke « NY Times

 

From its unveiling in 2012, it was considered the Gadget, yearned after by everyone from nerds and chief executives, to chefs and fashionistas. It was the must-have toy that was going to set the gold standard for a new class of wearable computers.

 

At the time, unknown to anyone outside X, an impassioned split was forming between X engineers about the most basic functions of Google Glass. One faction argued that it should be worn all day, like a “fashionable device,” while others thought it should be worn only for specific utilitarian functions. Still, nearly everyone at X was in agreement that the current prototype was just that: a prototype, with major kinks to be worked out.

 

There was one notable dissenter. Mr. Brin knew Google Glass wasn't a finished product and that it needed work, but he wanted that to take place in public, not in a top-secret lab. Mr. Brin argued that X should release Glass to consumers and use their feedback to iterate and improve the design.

 

Tech reviewers who finally got their hands on Glass described it as “the worst product of all time,” aptly noting that it had abysmal battery life, and that it was “a product plagued by bugs.” Privacy concerns were raised, with people afraid of being recorded during private moments, like at the urinal, as I experienced at another Google conference where I was surrounded by Glass wearers. It was also banned from bars, movie theaters, Las Vegas casinos and other places that did not want customers surreptitiously recording.

 

Glass went from being coveted to becoming a punch line.

 

In its new life, Glass is overseen by Ivy Ross, a jewelry designer who runs Google’s smart-eyewear division, and Tony Fadell, a former Apple product executive and the creator of Nest.

 

“Early Glass efforts have broken ground and allowed us to learn what’s important to consumers and enterprises alike,” Mr. Fadell said in a statement. “I'm excited to be working with Ivy to provide direction and support as she leads the team and we work together to integrate those learnings into future products.”

 

Several people with knowledge of Mr. Fadell’s plans for Glass said he was going to redesign the product from scratch and would not release it until it was complete. “There will be no public experimentation,” one adviser to Mr. Fadell said. “Tony is a product guy and he’s not going to release something until it’s perfect.”