Dubbed ahead of its time, Google Glass has now been around for two years. Glass is one of Google’s first Project X devices, and is a wearable piece of Android technology controlled by voice and tapping. Looking like a stylish pair of specs, it is a device that projects information through a screen on the glasses while connecting to WiFi and Bluetooth and utilising its dual core processor and 16 GB of storage. Want one yet? The only problem is believed to be the price, which is set at $1,500 USD today.
When Google Glass launched in 2012 it had a lot of enthusiastic and loyal adopters, but recently it is believed those early fans are starting to fall by the wayside. In fact, more than half of the 16 Google Glass app makers contacted by Reuters said that they had abandoned the product due to lack of customers or limitations of the technology.
Astro Teller, the head of Google X lab, which lead the development of Google Glass has acknowledged some downfalls with the technology, specifically the price. Despite not having mentioned a specific time or target that the price is set to drop, Teller said that price cuts for high end products, such as Google Glass, would make a big difference to the technology being widely used in the market. Further, in a recent interview with CNET, Teller said that Google Glass has become a “poster child” for some privacy issues regarding wearable devices, which is something that needs to be considered. Google Glass is focussed on becoming a form of “smart eyewear,” rather than a computer-like device that does everything itself.
Teller remarks, “Every time you drop the price by a factor of 2, you roughly get a 10 times pick up of the number of people who will seriously consider buying it.” You get that? Nor did I. What Teller means to say is that for Google Glass to become a mainstream, everyday product that the average Joe can afford, it would need to cut its price in half twice, which would bring its retail price to a more reasonable $375 USD. United States teens are keen to try the product but are also concerned about the price! $375 seems reasonable for a device of this nature, but what would you pay? Do you think Google should be prepared to drop the price even lower?