Google Glass: it truly seemed like a good idea at the time…
Twitter has withdrawn its app from the MyGlass store, prompting a few isolated protests from users, and leaving open a space for any independent developer that wants to fill it… in the event that anybody would really be interested.
The sad truth here seems to be that although there is still no official sales data from the company, its ambitious sales forecasts have failed to materialize. Of course, I know, it is just a prototype and the “market” so far is comprised of the so called “explorers” (known by some others as “glassholes”), but even though…
As it stands, Google Glass is a product that despite sounding good in principle, is quite simply unusable: my initial interest in superimposing a layer of information over reality and trying to interact with it diminished within a few minutes of trying it out, and completely vanished after wearing the gadget for a few days.
What at first seemed like a good idea, impressive when tried out quickly, soon became uncomfortable, with an impractical interface that constantly required pressing your finger against your temple, that froze on several occasions when trying to carry out the simplest tasks, had a ridiculously short battery life, that you ended up using relatively rarely, and that for some tasks, such as driving, was not only a distraction, but potentially dangerous, even when compared to using a smartphone’s GPS. Again, I know… there’s a price to pay for being an “explorer”, but…
Why didn’t Google Glass sell? Basically because as a prototype, it aroused the interest of a small number of people, but who soon lost interest when they had the chance to really try the thing out. In short, it was what might be called a prototype of a prototype, with too many limitations to be considered a serious product. There are very few occasions when these glasses would be useful, and they look like nothing so much as a rather expensive toy that is soon going to be put away in a drawer before even being put fully to the test. In the end, the outcome has been that the few people prepared to use them, even the faithful, can’t get along with them. In short, nobody is interested.
I still wish there will be some sort of “new beginning”, another iteration to really come up with a more successful prototype or a new version that really excites users even after trying it for a few days, but quite frankly, I’m starting to lose the faith.
The decision to abandon the project by Twitter, one of the applications that could have made some sense, but which hasn’t gone beyond, “look, I have Google Glass”, shows a clear lose of confidence in the idea. Those who bought the things will now watch as other companies pull out, leading Google itself to quietly drop them, as it has done on so many other occasions when the market fails to bit. Google X will just have to put this down to experience.
(En español, aquí)
