Silicon giant adds Recon to its family of smartglasses acquisitions
Just months after buying smart eyewear company Vuzix for $25m, Intel has swooped for sports wearable manufacturer Recon Instruments.
The company has two smart eyewear products – the Recon Jet and Recon Snow – which enable cyclists and snowboarders to get information in front of their eyes. Essentially a Google Glass for sports, the Recon Jet landed back in April, and like most smartglasses, with muted reviews.
Read more: Intel to power Google Glass 2
On the company’s blog, Recon’s CEO Dan Eisenhardt said that Recon would keep its staff and HQ in Vancouver, and would benefit from Intel’s portfolio of technology and expertise.
“This acquisition has placed Recon in a uniquely advantageous position. Going forward, we’ll continue leading the smart eyewear category for sports, and we’ll be able to bring our technology and innovation to completely new markets and use cases where activity-specific information, delivered instantly, can change the game. The team and I couldn’t be more enthusiastic,” he said.
Recon was formerly an Intel Capital company, so the deal comes as little surprise as the company looks to make headway in connected glasses. As well as buying Vuzix, Intel has launched R&D collaborations with Luxottica, with a product promised in 2016.
The result is a portfolio of companies and technology unrivaled in the world of smartglasses. Since the untimely demise of Google Glass, the area has been relatively quiet – yet we feel that Intel’s assembling of a crack team of eyewear tech experts will yield something exciting before long.
