The recent public appearance of Google co-founder Sergey Brin without his Glasses, the postponement of his mood Google Glass to the general public 2014 announced earlier, the reclassifications to the staff of the secret workshop that builds them, as well as the reservations the developers are now expressing after the silent withdrawal of the support of large investors, outline today the turbulent landscape around it, never, famous Google Glass.
Ο Νο1 Googler, επικεφαλής ενός ακόμα εγχειρήματος «με το βλέμμα στο φεγγάρι» (το επονομαζόμενο “moonshot thinking”) είχε απλώς ξεχάσει τα Γυαλιά στο αυτοκίνητο, φέρεται να απολογήθηκε στον ρεπόρτερ που το παρατήρησε την Κυριακή 14 Νοεμβρίου. Ίσως πάλι, η choice του εξηγείται αφού, μπορεί να ήξερε πως φαντάζουν ως «εξωγήινοι» οι άνθρωποι σαν κι αυτόν στην Κίρα Νάιτλι, την πρωταγωνίστρια του Imitation Game. Brin was heading to the mansion of a wealthy Russian investor to watch, together with Mark Zackerberg and a few others, the private first viewing the film for Alan Turing in Silicon Valley.
However, on Google X -the Lab which deals with yet another unlikely venture, the cars without a driver- employs about 300 people, led by Ivy Ross since March 2014, coming from the high rungs of Calvin Klein. In addition, since February 2013, when Google Glass began to be selectively available to would-be Explorers, the number of people wearing Glasses has exceeded ten thousand
However, despite Google's efforts to dispel the myths surrounding Google Glass, it seems that developers have not been persuaded to invest in app development. The fact that Google announced earlier that Glass "is not ready for prime time" was reason enough for many to back down. Reuters reports at least 9 to a set of 16 developers who have stopped the relevant project. On the other hand, he adds that, many, even older, remain loyal. Among them, the Facebook, but no longer Twitter, despite the fact that photos are still being published with the tag #throughglass (and from Greece). The glass-apps.org has not updated its content - a list of apps for Google Glass - since January of 2014.
The biggest blow to Google Glass was its collapse Glass Collective which had been established in April 2013. Google's investment arm, Google Ventures together with two of the largest investment fund managers in Silicon Valley, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Andreessen Horowitz had then announced the financial support of start-ups that would develop applications for Glass. But today, glasscollective.com takes developers back to the beginning, to the Google Glass website. "We chose to leave them entrepreneurs to come to us directly,” a Google Ventures representative replied to Reuters.
Many think that "end of personal life" concerns undermine Google Glass's future and limit its use to other, vertical markets, such as surgery, a prospect that is at least one of the KPCB's major investors. In addition, in April 2014 launched a new Google Glass exploitation company, the Glass At Work (see some examples) to serve the needs of employees who do not work in a desk but need a ubiquitous computer.
