Not Even Investors Know What Google Glass Is For

bdking writes "Google says it plans to ship its Google Glass Explorer Edition by the end of April to developers and consumers who paid $1,500 to test the computer-enabled eyewear, with vague plans for a general release (at a lower price) by year's end. But what will you really be able to do with Google Glass, beyond having information presented before your eyes? Even investors who are set to spend millions funding apps development for Google Glass have no clue. Is Google Glass being overhyped as a 'transformational' device?" I bet every real estate agent in the world would like one of these hooked up to a database of houses for sale, so they could instantly scan all the relevant information.

Comments

I know what it's for.

[Gerafin]

One word: advertising. Right in front of your eyes is the most prime advertising space I can imaine.

Re:I know what it's for.

[Anonymous Coward]

Google has made it clear that making Glass minimally distracting is a major design goal. Showing advertising on it doesn't mesh well with that. Obviously advertising is Google's main business and it's reasonable to assume Glass feeds into that somehow, but I suspect it's for data collection, not display of ads.

Re:If it really knew where it was...

[swanzilla]

If the thing had good enough heading and position information, it could overlay detailed information on the real world. But it's not that good. It's just a smartphone display.

Too bad smartphones don't ship with GPS receivers, accelerometers, gyroscopes...

This is a toy for geeks having nerdgasms

[DavidinAla]

There will be a few real-world uses for Glass that are positive and cost-effective. For the vast majority, this device is a non-starter at any price, IMO. If you want to walk around pretending you're in a sci-fi movie, yeah, it's probably great if you're a 14-year-old, but most people aren't going to have a use for this AND they're not going to want to be seen wearing it AND it's not going to be socially acceptable. Once again, this is technology desperately in search of a problem to solve to justify its existence.

Re:This is a toy for geeks having nerdgasms

[FrankSchwab]

In a previous life, I spent a lot of time hang gliding. Competition and Cross-Country pilots have to hang multiple instruments on their control bars - variometers, GPS's, radios - to maximize their performance. This is a problem area, as the $1000 worth of instruments are in an easily damaged location which also reduces performance due to air drag.

Google Glass would be a huge advancement here - stick your $200 cell phone where it gets good reception and is protected, use it for GPS, mapping, and communications functions, add a small cheap variometer interfaced to your phone. You'll have far better information, your instruments will be cheaper and your software will be vastly better, and your physical performance will improve by taking all that stuff out of the airstream.

This, I think, is an example of the niche markets that no marketer in his right mind would build a product to meet, but combined with 1000 other niches could start to make the product ubiquitous. /frank

Golf

[HoboCop]

I could see that thing being awesome for golf... they already do GPS through smart phones.. if it can tell you how far away an object is in your field of vision, pretty darn spiffy.. show you a trail where your ball went, display your swing trajectory in your field of view for analysis... lots of cool things. Plus golfers will spend that kind of money.

Re:Like the iPad?

[mtb_ogre]

Apple was able to tell people all the cool things they could do with an iPad.

Google: "You tell us what it's good for!"

When the inventor can't easily explain what the best uses for their invention are, it's a safe bet there really aren't any.

Seems obvious enough...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Given the...how to put this politely... 'strongly habituated'... cellphone-checking among a large number of people, I'd say that the closest analogy would probably be selling infusion pumps to heroin junkies.

By making 'pulling out your phone and compulsively checking it all the goddamn time, even when in company' entirely seamless and automatic, Glass allows you to indulge your vices even further, while exhibiting the formerly required movements much less often...

I thought Sergei's(deeply weird) comments about being 'emasculated' by his phone were actually sort of telling with regards to the strange contradiction underlying the 'Glass' concept.

So, Sergei comes to the realization that damn do I spend a lot of my life, even when I'm ostensibly doing other things, basically poking at the little colored lights that live inside my cellphone, what am I doing? However, instead of adopting the "Hmm, maybe I should try doing less of that" approach, he goes for the "I know, I'll build a system where I no longer find myself clutching my cellphone alarmingly frequently; because it's hovering in front of my eye all the time!".

Healthcare!

[ZaphDingbat]

Good grief, people! Healthcare!

"Glass, call the RT." "This is the RT. Can I help you?" "Can you have a look at this man's breathing? We're not sure what's going on..."

Re:to be really useful it needs to be realtime

[h4rr4r]

When I am in the car, my battery should never deplete. My car surely makes enough electrical power for this task.

Phones today could have much longer battery lives if we did not sacrifice all the alter of thin. My galaxy nexus is more comfortable to hold with the extended battery pack. The entire device could be that thick and it would allow even more battery life.

Yeah, they suck, but we also make them way too small.

Re:Like the iPad?

[geekoid]

"When the inventor can't easily explain what the best uses for their invention are, "
how naive.

In the hardware industry, the best application seldom come from the company that developed it. Best game seldom come the the console makers, then best application for the iPad didn't come from Apple, and so on.

Re:If it really knew where it was...

[CanHasDIY]

Who's gonna buy the 1st-generation device if it doesn't have those things?

The crapload of developers who already dropped $1,500 on one, for starters.