Google Glass - A failed hi-tech innovation

One of the ambitious projects of Google X research labs is Google Glass along with Self-driving car and Loon. In year 2012 Sergey Brin, unveiled about this ambitious project. He thinks that people using a cell phone while walking has an underlying problem and Google Glass would solve that problem. The premium to solve that problem is just little over $1500 (price of Google Glass) from the consumer pocket. Ever since its announcement, Google has been rushing to bring this Google Glass to mainstream consumers with too much of experiment but very little consumer feedback. Let us see what are the pros and cons of the Google Glass are.

Issues with the concept:

• The idea sounds cool and looked novelty, a science fiction style concept, and a niche product. But the world is not advanced to accept that augmented reality (yet).
• Too much electronics on the head - a microprocessor, 720P video camera, a touch-pad, a battery, LED projector, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, phone, text, email, speakers, microphone and list goes on. Too much stuff with too little space.
• Failed to attract people who already wear glasses in the first prototype.  My personal experience in one of the tech workshop - I was asked to remove my glasses before wearing Google Glass.
• There is no apparent evidence what exactly Google is trying to do with the Google Glass - is it a gaming device, or a social media platform, or a medical device, or a device which will solve some real world problems, or is it just some cool and geeky device?
• Who are their target audience? Technology geeks or general public? From the prototype, it will be highly impossible to take this device and sell to a person who is not a technical savvy.
• Early reaction was astonishing from technology pundits, but this reaction is nothing new for any tech gadget, people look at only positive stuff, or a “wow” sort of reaction. However, how many people really wear the Google Glass and glue them to their eyes, very little or none. For the first couple of days we spend great amount of time on the newly purchased gadget, and later on we tend to give up and slowly lose the interest. Google Glass certainly will fall into that category.
• How can Google protect and assure the guarantee of the privacy with a computer being on the head, can we trust the technology?
• Just wearing the Google Glass for a trial is a great and cool experience, but is it possible to continuously wear it the entire day and not get labeled as a weird guy in the wrong set of crowd? How far is the social acceptance of this product?
• The issue is not about how much cool factor Google can build into the Google Glass which they can certainly do that but how can they convince the general public to adopt the Glass
• Another observation is how they invited the developers and technical pundits to participate in the prototype phase. Instead of focusing on one or two areas, they wanted to try pretty much everything with the Google Glass.  It was overwhelming, causing too much confusion for not only for the developers but also for the Google Glass engineers as well. The expectations from the engineers are way beyond the reality.
• It would cost $1500 if someone wants to purchase it during the prototype phase. This is a hefty price tag and cannot be justifiable to bring the product into general public.

Some advantages and benefits:

• When Google introduces a new product, they have the capacity and a fat bank balance to do it big
• When Google introduces a new product, they have the capacity and a fat bank balance to do it big.
• No near term threats from the competitors, first mover advantage.
• Brand advantage, Google is already part of our lives, whether it is Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android, or Google Chrome. So obviously, the expectations on the Google Glass is very high.
• Being Google, they have the marketing power.  They can partner with any leading eyewear manufacturers, and dictate the terms and conditions and also can negotiate better share on the profits.
• Google being a technology innovator and genius brain bank, they can leverage their expertise and create an ecosystem around the Google Glass.

Should Google focus on mass market or enterprise market for Google Glass? My take is enterprise market. The world is not ready for this device yet to include it in the main stream market. It falls under the category of augmented reality, self-driving cars, or a journey to mars. It could take couple of decades for main stream to adopt products like this. At the end no matter who you are, if there is no customer, there is no business. “The customer… is the ultimate reason for whatever the organization produces, -Peter Drucker”.