Google kills Glass for good

Nearly a decade ago, Google unveiled Glass, one of the first major augmented reality (AR) devices and the catalyst for significant controversy. Now, Google is killing Glass for good.

As reported by 9to5Google, Google announced it will no longer sell the Glass Enterprise Edition 2 headsets. Moreover, the company will support existing headsets until September 15th, 2023; support meaning that customers can get replacement devices under existing programs until the deadline. Google said it doesn’t have any software updates planned for Glass.

Existing headsets will continue to work as normal after the deadline, and developers will still be able to update their apps. Of course, that doesn’t mean everything will keep working — notably, Google warned that its ‘Meet on Glass’ app — which launched less than a year ago — isn’t guaranteed to work beyond September 15th.

Google Glass had an interesting journey. Google first unveiled Glass in April 2012 and started selling a prototype of the headset to qualified ‘Glass Explorers’ in the U.S. a year later. Except, the prototypes cost $1,500 USD at the time (about $1,937.10 USD in 2023, or roughly $2,663.32 CAD), and the headsets weren’t exactly billed as prototypes.

Moreover, the headsets went on to cause several controversies, particularly around privacy, since Glass had built-in cameras. Some businesses even put up anti-Glass signs and Glass owners were called ‘Glassholes.’ Google later killed the Glass Explorer program.

In 2017, Google went all-in on business with Glass Enterprise Edition and, in 2019, released an updated Enterprise Edition 2. The Enterprise headsets proved useful in some applications, such as in hospitals and surgeries.

Interestingly, 9to5 notes that Google recently started testing some integrations between Glass and its Pixel phones. It seems somewhat odd that Google would suddenly kill off the product amid testing new applications, but perhaps it’s paving way for something new.

Android Police pointed out that Google teased a new AR glasses product at Google I/O 2022 and with I/O 2023 right around the corner, maybe we’ll see the spiritual successor to Glass (with new branding, of course — can’t be associated with those Glassholes anymore).

Source: 9to5Google Via: Android Police