Google Glass made its debut in 2013. Back then, Google Glass made headlines everywhere and the idea that everyone in the world will eventually own one or some type of augmented reality (A.R.) headgear was not in any way ridiculous. That conversation died soon after though. The reality (no pun intended) was that an A.R. glasses from Google at the time will set you back US$ 1,500, or if you convert that to local currency at the time, about MYR 5,000 there or thereabouts. That kind of money for a pair of clunky glasses you need to keep charging every few hours is the kind of luxury most in the world cannot afford or does not need. Added to the fact that Google Assistant and A.R. functionalities at the time was in its infancy, crude at best; why would you pay that much money for a pair of glasses?
The original Google Glass stayed on sale for about two years though, until 2015. No sales numbers were quoted within that time frame. In that time, Google also produced a new type of Google Glass. This time, they realized that the A.R. smart glasses market was not something they wanted to sell to end-users. Instead, they saw more potential use cases in the enterprise market. Hence, Google developed, supported, and sold Google Glass Enterprise edition from 2015 onward. Then in 2023, well today, they stopped selling the kit entirely and announce that they will stop supporting them in September 2023.
Through its life, the A.R. project by Google was adopted mostly in the construction and medical field. They updated the Google Glass Enterprise Edition once in 2019. From then on, Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 replaced the first iteration.
Google has not announced any replacement for Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2. It does not look like Google will be announcing any replacement for the A.R. goggles anytime soon though. That does not mean that Google has given up on the idea of A.R. completely.
In 2020 Google made an acquisition that still confirms Google’s commitment to their A.R. project. They acquired North, a smart glasses maker. Since then the Mountain View giant has been reported to be working on some kind of smart A.R. wearable that resembles ski goggles. The project was code named Project Iris. There has been little update on the project’s progress since then though.
It is also unlikely for Google to scrap the project since their competitors are also working on the same thing. Apple and Meta (formerly known as Facebook) have been working on their own versions of A.R. and Virtual Reality (V.R.) headsets for some time now. Reportedly, they are looking to bring their own versions of the headsets some time in the future. Microsoft is also known to have a mixed reality department of their own and has produced working prototypes for mixed reality, but those hardware has not been sold to end-consumers for good reason.
A.R. is still pretty much something you can look forward to as a normal in the future. For now though, with Google shelving their most promising mixed reality project temporarily, that future looks a little further than we might like to think. You can find out more about Google’s Glass project from their website.