INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

Google Glass Returns – But Not To The Consumer

By Mohamed Zeineldine
Published on: 10:35 PST, Aug 6, 2015

Google has decided to give Google Glass a surprising second chance. Yes, that little gadget everyone started thinking was dead and actually got discontinued in January is making a comeback. But don’t expect to see Google Glass on the streets again anytime soon, though.

Why?

Apparently, the company is learning to be a bit more careful this time. As Tech Times reports, Google will be distributing its Google Glass 2.0 to companies rather than consumers. An attempt at avoiding the microscopic scrutiny of mass media and the consumer market – at least until Google figures out what went wrong and how to fix it – perhaps?

But what could Google get right that it got totally wrong the first time?

Well, it’s hard to tell for certain. The new direction, however, has a completely different target market and therefore, a completely different set of purposes.

Google actually made the announcement about its new path for Google Glass on its Google Developers website. “Glass Certified Partners are authorized by Glass at Work for delivering enterprise solutions for Glass,” the company said on its website.

So “enterprise solutions for Glass” seems like a fancy way of saying that developments for Google Glass will be targeting the workplace in the near future, and Google Glass won’t be hitting the streets anytime soon.

While this is great news for those who feared the privacy intrusion possibilities of Google Glass, some warn that those who were worried before shouldn’t hold their breath for too long.

According to Recode, two members of the old Google Glass project team still believe that there is a very good possibility that the rather nerdy-looking tech device will find its way again to consumer markets. And to top that off, one of the two, Thad Starner, even called the first Google Glass Explorer Edition “experimental,” and he claimed the aim was only “to sell thousands of them.”

Starner also blamed the media for blowing the Google Glass idea out of proportion.

“The press ran away with this, thinking this was a consumer device.”

So, it seems, everyone out there who managed to grab a Google Glass was really just a test subject for Google.

In the meantime, as the company tries to force feed Google Glass 2.0 to companies, it has also started to try something a bit more sly regarding the whole Google Glass technology.

According to Venture Beat and Android Headlines, Google has obtained a patent for technology very similar to Google Glass – but this time it will be attached to a hat.

Are you looking forward to a Google Glass comeback in the near future? Or would the world be better off without Google Glass hitting the streets again?

[Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images for Sony Pictures]

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