Google announced this week that it will no longer sell the latest version of Google Glass, called Enterprise Edition. This effectively ends a line of innovative but unsuccessful wearable products from a different era that many consumers may have thought was long gone.
When it was first shown off in 2013, Google Glass was advertised to the general public with the promise that it would let people use a computer on their face instead of having to pull out a phone. But smartglasses were taken off the market in 2015 after beta versions didn’t catch on because they were too expensive, too big, and raised privacy concerns.
Then, Google switched its focus from consumers to businesses. When the first Enterprise version of Glass was announced in 2017, it was pushed for use in industries such as manufacturing and logistics. Google’s last chance to save the Glass product was the Enterprise Edition 2, which came out in 2019. But the $999 product didn’t sell well.
Google wrote on its FAQ page that announced the change, “Thank you for over a decade of innovation and partnership.” The Enterprise Edition will still be supported by the company until September.
Google has decided to stop making the product because the company is trying to cut costs everywhere. Google, like many of its competitors, recently said it would lay off thousands of people because of fears of a recession and changing global demand for digital products.
Still, people still have hopes for Google Glass. The company that owns Snapchat also sells Spectacles, which are smart glasses that have had trouble gaining popularity over the years. It is said that Apple is making augmented reality glasses. And even though Glass failed, Google said last year that it was still testing other AR glasses.
In a blog post last summer, the company said, “AR is giving us new ways to interact with the world around us.” “It can help us find the information we need quickly and easily, like how to learn a new language or the best way to get from point A to point B.” Even though Google Glass had a similar goal a decade ago, the future is still becoming clear.
