Google: Glass a premium product, worn tech to be "the norm"
updated 03:44 pm EDT, Sun July 1, 2012
Price to come down from $1,500, but still premium pricing
The Project Glass wearable computing device Google showed off last week at its developer conference will be positioned as a premium product and priced accordingly. That revelation came as part of an in-depth interview Wired conducted with two project managers behind Glass' development. The talk also yielded some information on the dimensions of the device, as well as some insight into its specifications.
Asked about the $1,500 pre-order price point for developers, the project heads said they were aiming for a reasonable price point that would be accessible to developers. The company does, though, view Project Glass as a premium product. The device will be priced below the current $1,500 point, but Google will not be aiming for entry level.
The project heads also think that the sort of wearable computing exemplified by Project Glass will be very much the norm within three to five years.
Project Glass is still very much in the prototype stage. Google will be working with developers to improve Glass' functionality and to work out any kinks in the system, of which there are apparently many. The device still crashes often, and many of its features are unreliable. Google will be shipping units to developers some time early in 2013, and a consumer-ready version of the tech is expected to debut sometime in 2014.
The device is apparently comparable in weight to a pair of sunglasses. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, but no cellular connection as yet. In order to have access to data outside of Wi-Fi range, users would need a phone as well, though Google plans to feature Glass as a stand-alone product eventually. In addition to the camera and head-up-display, Glass packs in a gyroscope, accelerometers, compasses, microphones, a small speaker, and GPS. These features will be included in the version shipping to developers, but it's unclear whether those features will be present in any consumer product.
