In 2013, Google released Google Glass, $1,500 so-called smartglasses that quickly became the butt of jokes across America. The few Google Glass wearers were immedaitely dubbed “Glassholes.”
Johnny Davis for Esquire:
the $1,500 smart-glasses comprised of a tiny display screen mounted onto a flexible frame that incorporated a camera, a microphone and a computer. Like a Google phone, they could be voice-activated, using an “OK Glass…” command.
Some visionaries predicted that the ability to take photographs, check your email or start recording video, without having to pull out your phone, would be a gamechanger. Others thought people would make a spectacle of themselves. The naysayers won, no contest. Banned everywhere from cinemas to changing rooms, Google Glass became such a joke that even its parent company released its own parody video. The objections were many and obvious. But chief among them was that they made you look ridiculous.
Big Tech, however, was far from done with the idea…
If smart-glasses are going to be the next big thing, it may be down to one company to make that happen — Apple. Can it repackage existing tech into a piece of kit that proves irresistible, like it did with the iPod from MP3 players and its Apple Watch from fitness devices?
Overcoming the cultural challenge of persuading people to wear a computer on their faces is a big hurdle. But then, until recently, millions of people had given up on wearing a watch…