TDS Europe 2015

May 2015, London

Google Glass: going, going but not yet gone

You might have heard that Google no longer sells a prototype of its computerised eyewear. Yet it’s unlikely to be the end of the line for Google Glass, writes Mariam Sharp

Google's Project Glass was announced in 2012 as a concept, which many dismissed as 'vapourware'. The naysayers were certain that it would never be realised as a product. They were wrong.

At first it was given the unofficial name of 'Google Goggles’ and soon was being widely touted as a product that could the next big thing for the travel industry. Speaking at an EyeforTravel conference, Robert Patterson, VP of Content & Social Strategy at MMYG Global described Google Glass as “low hanging fruit” which offered “a tonne of potential for the travel industry”. 

Travel companies, including Virgin Airlines, Copenhagen Airport and JetBlue were among those to jump on the bandwagon. To date the product appears to have been an exercise in innovation, launching in beta mode mostly for developers and testers, at a hefty price tag of $1,500. 

On January 19th Google said that it would stop selling the current version of Glass, but it seems it is not the end of the road. By bringing on board Nest CEO Tony Fadell, also known as one of the father’s of the iPod, to the lead the project, it's clear that Google has new plans for Glass. 

Today, Patterson believes that Google Glass will make inroads in the enterprise marketplace first, but a question still hangs over consumer adoption. That seems to be backed up by Google, which has said it’s working on a new Glass product and will continue to invest in a business-focused programme. Rumours are that a Glass 2 will be ‘revealed’ in June 2015, as part of the Google IO (for developers) conference.  

As more competitors enter the wearable computer space, Patterson believes Glass may become more become more socially acceptable but consumer adoption will remain slow.

Addressing complexity

With the first iteration of Glass, Google did its best to address the complexity of software issues. However, it soon became clear that a fundamental change was needed to overcome the physical design challenges for everyday usage. As such, any new version of Glass is expected to be more like Nest products, which are known for being sleek, elegant, modern, attractive, and functional.

On the plus side, what Glass did was to spur others to research the opportunities for optical wearables. 

As Andy Chang, senior manager of academic research at National Instruments (NI) points out there has been some interesting ongoing discussion around the similarity and differences between the Consumer Internet of Things (CloT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). But, he adds, “it’s important to note that the applications used in Google Glass are very different than the applications in which our technology has been deployed on similar wearables”. 

For example, while many popular CIoT devices—such as the Pebble Smart Watch and Google Glass—have been popular trends with a short lifespan, technology such as the Actigraph, which utilises NI technology, has been used as physiological monitoring systems for many years by both the government and military. NI also worked on smart glasses with Airbus, adding intelligence and reliability to the building processes of the aircraft with the aim of increasing safety.

While Google Glass may have been put on the back burner in some quarters but not everywhere. In June last year, Starwood introduced a new SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) app for Google Glass, which was designed and built entirely by the group’s internal team. The app will assist travellers at each stage of their journey, helping users explore the destination and find practical logistical information before, during and after a trip.

Presumably Starwood doesn’t invest in technology before doing consumer research and its press release points to the fact that all the information can be found “within a quick, easy, and streamlined format valued by on-the-go users of wearable technology”. 

It’s still early days for Starwood but what is clear right now is that exactly how future models of Glass will be used by the travel industry or travel consumers, remains a work in progress.

Starwood will be speaking about evolving and emerging consumer technologies at the Travel Distribution Summit, Europe 2015, to be held in London on May 6-7

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