Smile... You're being filmed by the smartglasses on the early-adopting human staring at you. Google is graduating its Google Glass from experiment to official Google product as the $999 Glass Enterprise Edition 2. They're like smartwatches. But for your eyes. And they're packed with buzzwords:
- Fancy optics: The lenses are by Smith, the brand behind your ski goggles.
- Augmented & virtual reality: They're designed with new chips to handle both.
- Easy apping: Using Google's Android operating system makes it easier for developers to pop out new glass apps (picture potential "blink to pay" features).
Universally hated... The original Google Glass arrived in 2013. It was swiftly panned for violating the privacy of everyone in eyesight. But this new version isn't for you. It's for business:
- Google retargeted the specs to be worn by factory workers and surgeons. Support and data on the job = higher productivity and fewer mistakes.
- The value prop, in one sentence: This gives workers "superpowers"
Pivot — Don't kill it... Glass originated in Google's X-department, aka "The Moonshot Factory" where they "create radical new technologies to solve some of the world's hardest problems." And instead of shelving version 1.0 of Google Glass, the team found a new customer segment to target.