While the wearables market continues to heat up with new gadgets, among the list of the most popular and sought after by the tech crowd being smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart eyewear, Google Glass is easily one of the most well known when it comes to the wearable scene. It may not be the most attainable at this point, but it certainly has quite a following and that will only continue to grow. Google Glass was initially meant for developers when it hit the scene during its first stages, but now anybody with a desire to pony up the $1,500 to buy a pair and see what they can do with them are able to do so. Google Glass is not the only smart eyewear out there though, and developers who are looking to get their hands on a piece of head worn tech have a bigger list of options than you might think.
While Google Glass is the most stylish at this point and it is a Google product so there are plenty of talented developers who wish to work with it and create some amazing software for use with the device, but developers are no longer limited to just Glass. This opens up the capabilities for a wider range of great apps and software uses for smart eyewear, and in the end will only foster some competition. As Fierce Developer points Epson is one of the other leading companies forging a path into the world of wearable glasses with their Moverio BT-200 smart glasses, which just recently opened up their developer program to more potential individuals looking to participate.
The Moverio BT-200 are also a little more equipped than Google Glass with heads up displays for both eyes, it’s also set up for 3D effects and overlay images, which will only give developers more tools to work with. There are other wearable smart glasses as well, such as the smart glasses from Vuzix that are setting their sights on a niche market like the medical and construction industries, providing workers with devices that can assist them in their everyday jobs, something we have heard plenty about already with Google Glass implementations, which just goes to show that Google Glass is but one option in an area where there are obviously many interested parties. These are just a couple of other alternatives, but there are others and the market may very well only continue to expand as it heats up, which is likely to happen as Google prepares to make Glass available mainstream.