1/17/2015
WASHINGTON – Tech giant Google has decided to suspend production and sales of its Google Glass virtual reality device from Jan. 19 onwards, but will continue to work on improving the product for a future return to the market, a company spokesman said on Thursday.
Google is likewise cancelling its two-year-old Glass Explorer program, under which the company solicited the opinion of users in order to incorporate changes they suggested.
The team working on the Glass will also cease being a part of Google X laboratory to be spun off and evolve as an independent unit.
“We’re officially ‘graduating’ from Google X to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality,” Google said in a statement Thursday.
The Google Glass is worn as a pair of eyeglasses with a small screen on the right side of the frame, on which information, which can be accessed via the Internet, is displayed.
Wearers can surf the internet, record videos and take photos, though the number of applications available for the device is still limited.
The release date for the glass, a product which people began talking about around the end of 2011, had been initially scheduled for the second half of 2014.
Since becoming available in limited quantities, the product has sparked criticism regarding privacy and public safety issues. For example, people are concerned about the possibility of drivers being distracted when they are behind the wheel.
A recent survey revealed that about half of U.S. adults were worried by the impact of Google Glass on their privacy.
Except on April 16, 2014 when Google offered a limited number of its glasses for sale in the United States, the only way to acquire the wearable technology was by means of a special invitation issued by the company.
source
WASHINGTON – Tech giant Google has decided to suspend production and sales of its Google Glass virtual reality device from Jan. 19 onwards, but will continue to work on improving the product for a future return to the market, a company spokesman said on Thursday.Google is likewise cancelling its two-year-old Glass Explorer program, under which the company solicited the opinion of users in order to incorporate changes they suggested.
The team working on the Glass will also cease being a part of Google X laboratory to be spun off and evolve as an independent unit.
“We’re officially ‘graduating’ from Google X to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality,” Google said in a statement Thursday.
The Google Glass is worn as a pair of eyeglasses with a small screen on the right side of the frame, on which information, which can be accessed via the Internet, is displayed.
Wearers can surf the internet, record videos and take photos, though the number of applications available for the device is still limited.
The release date for the glass, a product which people began talking about around the end of 2011, had been initially scheduled for the second half of 2014.
Since becoming available in limited quantities, the product has sparked criticism regarding privacy and public safety issues. For example, people are concerned about the possibility of drivers being distracted when they are behind the wheel.
A recent survey revealed that about half of U.S. adults were worried by the impact of Google Glass on their privacy.
Except on April 16, 2014 when Google offered a limited number of its glasses for sale in the United States, the only way to acquire the wearable technology was by means of a special invitation issued by the company.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment