New York
CNN
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Google will now not promote the most recent Enterprise Version of Google Glass, the corporate introduced this week, successfully killing off an modern however failed wearable product line from one other period that many customers could have assumed was lengthy gone.
First unveiled in 2013, Google Glass was initially marketed for a common viewers, with the promise of giving folks entry to a pc on their face slightly than having to tug out a cellphone. However the smartglasses have been discontinued in 2015 after beta variations failed to realize traction as a result of its excessive price ticket, clunky design and considerations about privateness.
Google then shifted the main focus from customers to enterprise. The primary Enterprise version of Glass, introduced in 2017, was pushed to be used in industries comparable to manufacturing and logistics. The Enterprise Version 2, launched in 2019, was Google’s final try at saving the Glass product. However the $999 product didn’t catch on.
“Thanks for over a decade of innovation and partnership,” Google wrote on its FAQ web page asserting the choice. The corporate will proceed to help the phased out Enterprise Version till September.
Google didn’t reply to CNN’s request for remark.
Google’s choice to discontinue the product comes amid price cuts throughout the corporate. Like lots of its friends, Google has lately introduced plans to put off 1000’s in response to recession fears and shifting pandemic demand for digital merchandise.
Nonetheless, the dream of Google Glass lives on. Snapchat’s guardian firm sells Spectacles, one other set of smartglasses that has struggled through the years to realize traction. Apple is reportedly engaged on augmented actuality glasses. And even after the setback of Glass, Google mentioned final yr it was persevering with to check different AR glasses.
“Augmented actuality (AR) is opening up new methods to work together with the world round us,” the corporate mentioned in a weblog publish final summer time. “It could possibly assist us rapidly and simply entry the knowledge we want — like understanding one other language or understanding how greatest to get from level A to level B.”
A decade after Google launched Glass with a equally bold goal, the longer term continues to be coming into focus.
