Google’s decision to discontinue the product comes amid cost-cutting efforts across the company. (File)
New York:
Google will no longer sell the latest Enterprise edition of Google Glass, DailyExpertNews Business reports.
The company’s announcement this week will effectively end an innovative but failed wearable product line from another era that many consumers thought was long gone.
First unveiled in 2013, Google Glass was initially marketed to a general audience, with the promise of letting people access a computer on their face instead of pulling out a phone. But the smart glasses were discontinued in 2015 after beta versions failed to gain traction due to the hefty price tag, clunky design and privacy concerns, according to DailyExpertNews Business.
Google then shifted its focus from consumers to businesses. The first Enterprise Edition of Glass, announced in 2017, was pushed for use in industries such as manufacturing and logistics. Released in 2019, Enterprise Edition 2 was Google’s latest attempt to salvage the Glass product. But the $999 product didn’t catch on, DailyExpertNews Business said.
“Thank you for more than a decade of innovation and collaboration,” Google wrote on its FAQ page announcing the decision. According to DailyExpertNews Business, the company will continue to support the deprecated Enterprise Edition until September.
Google did not respond to DailyExpertNews’s request for comment.
Google’s decision to discontinue the product comes amid cost-cutting efforts across the company. Like many of its peers, Google recently announced plans to lay off thousands in response to recession fears and shifting pandemic demand for digital products.
Still, the dream of Google Glass lives on. Snapchat’s parent company sells Spectacles, another set of smartglasses that has struggled to gain traction over the years. DailyExpertNews Business said Apple was reportedly working on augmented reality glasses. And even after Glass’s setback, Google said last year it was continuing to test other AR glasses.
“Augmented reality (AR) opens up new ways to interact with the world around us,” the company said in a blog post last summer. “It can help us quickly and easily access the information we need, such as understanding another language or knowing the best way to get from point A to point B.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
