Google Glass Will Be Back, But Not Before it's Been Perfected
"Thanks for exploring with us. The journey doesn't end here," it now says on the Google Glass website. Google Glass which was first sold to qualified 'Glass Explorers' in its proto-type form for $1,500 on April 15, 2013, became available to the public on May 15, 2014, for the same price. But on January 16, 2015, Google announced that it would stop producing the Google Glass prototype although it remained committed to the development of the product. "...we're closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what's coming next. January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we're continuing to build for the future, and you'll start to see future versions of Glass when they're ready. (For now, no peeking)," the company said.
Google's Glass project is now overseen by Ivy Ross, a jewelry designer who runs Google's smart-eyewear division, and Tony Fadell, a former Apple product executive and the creator of Nest, reports the New York Times. The new team is building another Glass version that won't be seen by the public until it is perfectly market-ready.
Fadell in a statement said: "Early Glass efforts have broken ground and allowed us to learn what's important to consumers and enterprises alike. I'm excited to be working with Ivy to provide direction and support as she leads the team and we work together to integrate those learnings into future products." According to the New York Times, several people with knowledge of Mr. Fadell's plans for Glass said he was going to redesign the product from scratch and would not release it until it was complete. "There will be no public experimentation. Tony is a product guy and he's not going to release something until it's perfect," one of Fadell's adviser reportedly told the news service.