Google's first foray into wearable technology with its Google Glass is currently slated to cost interested consumers $1,500. However, new reports from research analysts hint that price might not end up being the final out-of-pocket cost for people when the augmented reality gadget finally becomes available. In fact, by that time the price tag could shrink as low as $299.
USA Today's Kevin Tofel of GigaOm reported that the device, due to its hardware and a likely marketing strategy from Google, will end up bringing the price of the product down significantly.
Citing a report from Topology Research's Jason Tsai, as reported by the China Post and Phone Arena, Tofel believes that the reason the Google Glass' price is so high is because Google wanted to ensure that, during its beta testing phase, only the most interested and tech savvy customers are the ones reviewing and testing out the product. $1,500 is an obviously inflated price. The majority of the 8,000 people Google originally allowed to test out the device paid the high price for early access. In reality, it was a way to weed out the kind of audience who would review Google Glass as a gimmick rather than the potentially revolutionary device that it is. By making the price high, Google targeted those who would understand the impact such a gadget would have on the mobile tech world and avoid those who would only write reviews about the strange looks they received wearing the headset into starbucks to grab a cup of coffee. In this way, Google was able to make sure the focus of the device stayed on the device's potential.
Another indicator that the price of Google Glass will drop is the components in it don't add up to a $1,500 price tag. Tofel compares it to the Motorola MotoActv smartwatch that was available in early 2012. The two devices have very similar components that make them up and the smartwatch for a significantly smaller price.
The devices has the same 8GB flash memory, a touchscreen, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth radios. It costs $199. Other costs to go from smartwatch to augmented reality will only be about $30 to $35 for the cost of the display.
"Let's go with the worst case though: $150 for all of the internal parts plus $35 for the display and another $40 - likely a high estimate on my part - for the speaker component and a camera sensor. That brings us to a conservative $225 figure. Of course there are costs involved for the actual wearable part as well as production. Even so, $299 doesn't sound out of the realm of possibilities. We're not looking at the chips and memory that are needed to make a $600 smartphone here," Tofel wrote.
