Google has killed its current version of Glass and is closing its Explorer programme, the company has revealed.
Opinion: Wearable tech has moved on from Google Glass
The search giant has been selling the consumer device for $1,500, but is to stop offering Glass from next week, and is shifting the team out of its secretive Google X headquarters.
The news, revealed by the BBC, will not come as a shock, after it emerged late last year that most developers had stopped supporting their apps for the wearable device.
However, it doesn’t seem like the end for Glass, and the company has confirmed to the BBC that it will continue to focus on “future versions” of the product.
Poster boy
From its inception in 2012, Google Glass has been a poster child for wearable tech, but development has stagnated, in part due to public misgivings about the device. That didn’t stop the company from developing fashion versions with Diane von Fürstenberg, and Ray-Ban – however, the latter never materialised.
Glass seemed to lose momentum through 2014, and the truth is that despite being one of the most exciting and forward looking devices ever made, the user experience and technology just didn’t live up to the hype.
Interestingly, the BBC reports that the current Google Glass team will report to Tony Fadell, the chief of Nest, which Google acquired last year. It’s also been rumoured that Intel could power the next edition of Google Glass.
Source: BBC
How we test
James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.