This evening IHS put out a press release where they talk about devices like Google’s Project Glass and how it could be the next big thing. Well we kinda already knew that. But the research firm is predicting that shipments of smart glass products will reach 9.4 million between now and 2016. The initial shipments of Google Glass are expected to reach 124,000 this year, as the product becomes available for developers. The adoption rate is expected to accelerate to around 250% in 2014 as glass becomes available to the Public. Let’s face it we all want some Project Glass, right?
In addition, Google’s efforts to promote app development and increased competition in the market could result in sales rising all the way to 6.6 million per year in 2016. IHS does warn, that shipments could be as low as a million units through 2016 if the public is turned off by the devices high prices. Which does make perfect sense. I don’t see Google selling 6 million Glass if the price will still be $1500 next year when it becomes available for the public.
Senior Analyst over at IHS says “The applications are far more critical than the hardware when it comes to the success of Google Glass.” He goes on to say “In fact, the hardware is much less relevant to the growth of Google Glass than for any other personal communication device in recent history. This is because the utility of Google Glass is not readily apparent, so everything will depend on the appeal of the apps. This is why the smart glass market makes sense for a software-oriented organization like Google, despite the company’s limited previous success in developing hardware. Google is betting the house that developers will produce some compelling applications for Glass.”
You can check out the full press release from IHS over on their site. It’ll be in the source link down below. So what do you think? Will products like Project Glass take off between now and 2016? Let us know in the comments down below.
Source: IHS