Google Glass is set to make its public debut on 2014. This pioneer in the wearable IT industry is predicted to change not only mobile technology today but the fate of its makers as well.
Google has announced the development of Glass as early as 2012 and since then, the company continues to make enhancements on the product. Glass is being used by over a thousand testers, most of which are in the U.S. These testers wear, assess, and suggest improvement on the features of Glass. Monthly updates such as the addition of a voice command prompt for music and navigation are routinely done and no major developments on the Glass have been made recently.
However, Google launched Glass Development Kit preview which provide access to Explorer Expedition owners to the application programming interfaces (API) for the hardware parts of the Glass. Access to the API may enable the Explorer Expedition owners to write and create more interactive apps, which are all Android-powered. Aside from this, GDK also enables Google's tech guys to create apps whose quality is similar to close to the apps that we're used to find on our smartphones and tablets.
Google is hoping to attract people to purchase Glass despite its estimated retail price of $600. Glass' components were listed to cost $210. Experts believe that if Google can drop the price to $300, they might be able to convince more buyers.
Another challenge in marketing the product is that Google has to counter the negative images associated with Glass wearers. Across the Internet, those who wear Glass were referred to as dweebs or the more derogatory Glassholes. Although the public is now very accustomed to the touchscreen smartphone, experts say that consumers might not be ready enough for wearable-connected device like Glass.
