What is the absolute first thing you picture when you think of a nerd, a geek, a dweeb, or whatever the fashionable term is for the “smart guy” in class who may or may not also be a little awkward? Now I gave up gambling a few years ago because even on my best days I was a mush, but I’d come out of retirement to bet the house that the majority of the people answering that question would say the person who can best be described by those names above wears glasses.
In every movie or TV show the “nerd” for lack of a better word wears glasses. From Gilbert, Lewis, and Wormser in “Revenge of the Nerds” to Leonard Hofstetter on “The Big Bang Theory” there is prescription eyewear everyplace. Sure you can point to Booger or Sheldon Cooper not wearing the frames but the stigma is there, glasses = dork. I was actually watching the show “King of the Nerds” the other day on TBS and was struck by the fact that most of them were sporting spectacles. I even wondered to myself if some of the contestants really needed them to see or were just using the specs as props.
Where am I going with this? Well according to Chris Matyszczyk over at CNet, Google’s upcoming Google Glass won’t be available for people who wear glasses. He first started having the suspicion after noticing that Larry Page and Sergey Brin were never seen wearing glasses, so Mr. Matyszczyk (who uses glasses) reached out to Google for an answer. The reply from Jay Nancarrow at Google should be of interest to all the nerds reading this article: “We’re preparing additional models that are designed to work for people who require prescription lenses. We haven’t released specific timelines for these, however.”
And with that answer so goes about 75% of the prospective consumer base. How can they create a product marketed to the nerdiest of the nerds and not have it available for people who use prescription glasses? Way to know your audience Google. What are the nerds out there supposed to do now while all the beautiful people with their perfect sight are walking around reading their texts and Facebook posts on their shiny new Google Glass units?
Of course the obvious follow up question would be what about contacts? But sadly that wasn’t asked so maybe there is hope out there at the end of that dark and blurry tunnel. The best you four eyed bastards can do now is wait.