Why Did Google Glass Fail ?

Technology continues to improve every day and create new devices to make life easier for people by solving a problem or creating a more efficient way to solve a problem. Some of these new technological designs do well in the market while some turn out to be a huge failure. One of these kinds of innovative technological advancements that turned out to be a big flop is Google Glass. This revolutionary technology was the first generation of its kind but it didn’t turn out as expected, failing in its first few years.

Google Glass is a wearable, voice- and motion-controlled Android device that resembles a pair of eyeglasses and displays information directly in the user’s field of vision. It was popularly known to be Google’s “moonshot” technology.

Google Glass offers an augmented reality experience by using visual, audio, and location-based inputs to provide relevant information.

The glasses have built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and a camera for taking photographs and videos. It supports both voice and video calls. In video calls, wearers can show the other person exactly what they’re looking at instead of talking face-to-face. It also has the ability to answer emails and text messages using voice dictation.

To provide the requested information, the device relies on sending small packages of information straight to the wearer through a micro-projector, using a private channel of communication that can only be accessed by the user.

It also collaborates with Google Maps to provide step-by-step directions with a map displayed on the screen.

Google publicly announced the development of Google Glass in April 2012 and officially unveiled it to the public in May 2014. However, it shut down operations in 2015 and since then has hardly been mentioned or seen in public.

This was supposed to be the device of the future so how did this highly innovative and revolutionary product fail so fast even with so much potential? The reasons for this failure are what we’ll be discussing today.

When the first version of Google Glass was launched in 2013, consumers immediately voiced their concern about the glasses being an invasion of privacy. Many other complaints followed and within two years, the company ceased production of the glasses,

Here are some reasons why Google eye failed;

The introduction of Google glass into the world was done with a lot of hype. They uplifted people’s expectations for the product, assuming the hype would be appealing enough for the product to sell itself.

It even tried to buy coolness and hype by associating the product with fashion designers, featuring the glasses during fashion week, and in other relevant advertisements. The product’s marketing campaign kept on promoting the product as the future’s precursor technology.

For a project that probably took hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, Google should have spent at least $10 million explaining it.

When the product was finally released and people realized its defects, they were not pleased and it wasn’t long before people realized that the odd-looking glasses didn’t live up to the hype.

Answering the question “what issues does this product resolve” and figuring out its functionality should all be done before a product is invented and launched into the market. However, Google Glass didn’t do any of these. There was also no proper education by the creators of Google Glass on the cases in which the product could be used.

Its only two functions were speed picture capturing and speed surfing the internet. These are problems that never existed in the first place, these functions were already being performed perfectly by other devices therefore, there wasn’t any practical usage or benefit of this product. Instead, it only made it compete with other devices which had longer batteries, larger capacity, quicker processors, and better cameras.

While some people believed the product was a fashionable device that could be worn anytime and anywhere, some other set of people believed it should only be worn when performing specific functions, for which it was created.

This innovative product could not succeed because even though it arrived with great hype, users could not comprehend why they wanted it in their lives. The creators should have done more competitive research about what benefits the product could offer to the market. Then they would have been able to identify and show how the product could enhance users’ lives.

People spend outrageously on luxury items but it is very important for them to find value in them. With Google Glass retailing for $1500 at its release and limiting access to a specific community of glass explorers (mainly software developers and tech influencers), it was seen as a luxury item but however, it provided no real value due to the fact that it couldn’t do any single action uniquely well. Users felt like they paid $1500 just to tell the company how to fix their devices.

Despite the fact that people were highly disappointed with this product, Google did not minimize the pricing. Some people however believed that with years to come and more development, the price would be brought down to a couple hundred of dollars so as to meet the commercial market.

However, even with this hope, the extravagant price of $1500 made the product unattractive among regular customers. Even though the product was an early prototype and an experimental device, the large price tag combined with the lack of availability and negative press made for a poor initial impression on the public. Remember, this was at a time when the highest-end smartphones sold for around $500 and the $1000 iPhone x was still four years away.

Google originally advertised Google Glass in terms of experience augmentation. It had great potential to be a revolutionary tool for professionals. Machine operators could be fed up-to-the-minute information about a manufacturing process. Truck drivers, train conductors or pilots could instantly get directions and report, making it easy for them to quickly and safely navigate without lifting a finger or averting their eyes. Physicians could retrieve health records and rapidly analyze test results while their hands stay steady on vital work. Security officers could receive real-time data about threats around them to better protect the public. The list of ways this product could have helped in assisting professionals goes on and on.

However, the professional community wasn’t the main target audience for Google regarding this product. Their plan was for the Tech geeks and A-Listers to fall in love with the product and use their influence to get others to buy it. Even Prince Charles was once spotted rocking the glasses. However, things did not go as planned and this plan miserably failed.

Google glass did not fail as a result of the lack of innovative concept, rather it failed because it targeted the wrong audience. Strategizing and figuring out the right target audience for a product before launch should be priotized but a lot of big enterprises and startups in the technology sector usually make this mistake.

Once the announcement and description of Google Glass came out among the people, there were some major concerns regarding its safety for everyday use and how it could adversely affect our health.

This was because as per the description, the product was expected to radiate carcinogenic radiation very close to our minds and eyes. Not everyone was comfortable with that. Even though other brands’ products also emit many harmful radiations, they do not make direct contact with the skin.

The built-in camera also raised privacy and piracy concerns as Google Glass could be taking a photo or recording a video at anytime without permission. This was the reason the device was banned in movie theatres due to illegal filming of movies and was also banned in casinos where people did not appreciate being recorded without their permission.

Therefore, what was the point of purchasing a $1500 device that will give you a health scare and also make other people uncomfortable around you.

Google’s aspiration for Google glasses were very high; the technology required lengthy battery life, improved image recognition capabilities and a lot of data to be able to compete with other devices.

However, Google glass had a fixed battery limit of 4 hours, which means you need to keep on charging the glass every four hours. The energy consumption for this product was more than usual and no matter how much you charge it; it would be down in a few hours.

It also only worked with a US or UK native speaker and couldn’t properly recognize any other language it was commanded in. Unlike in smartphone, there was no keyboard feature to correct this.

There were also concerns about the excessive heating issues of the glasses. Recording a video of 10-15 minutes causes it to excessively heat due to the intensive computation working. You would also need to cool it down immediately otherwise it could cause serious damage both for the device and your health.

This was not appealing as even though the product had been in beta stages for years, after its commercial release, it was still plagued with issues such as mediocre battery life, constant freezes and overall sluggishness while using the device. It still felt like a prototype in the eyes of the public.

While the idea of sporting a device that made you feel like you are in the movie – black widow or some sci fi movie sounded appealing, Google Glass design somehow looked awkward and very unattractive.

With its asymmetrical design, fairly noticeable projector lens and the big component housing, the product looked unnatural, like it was still in its prototype stage. Even the wearers of the Google glass were nicknamed as ‘Explorers’.

The device looked nothing like your regular conventional glasses and many people really disliked its bulky frame, so, no matter how much Google tried to ‘buy cool’ through placement in fashion magazines, runways and through influencers, it just wasn’t cool.

There’s also hardly comfortability when putting the device on because it takes constant adjusting to set it right to fit the face, the lopsided design meant there’s more weight on one side of your face and also the screen Is positioned in the top right which means your eyes are constantly flicking up and right uncomfortably.

The perceived invasion of privacy is the biggest issue for the potential adoption of Glass. The device had the ability to constantly monitor your location, record videos and take pictures without users even realizing it. This is the major reason it is being rallied against. It is also the reason it has been banned by many restaurants, casinos, bars and big companies.

People have come to realize that their digital lives matter and privacy is of major concern. This situation is only going to increase as more things shift to online- be it socializing or doing work.

The Google Glass needed the user data that it collects using the various sensors to provide useful information and that was a tradeoff that most were not willing to make.

There has been a controversy on whether Google Glasses really failed or if this was just a setback for it to learn from Glass and turn it into a successful new generation of smart glasses.

After its huge flop with general consumers, Google attempted to rebrand the glasses as a tool for professionals such as surgeons or factory workers. However, these complaints continued and Google stopped to work on the Glass project in 2015.

However, in may 2019, Google launched the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 and in February 2020, they made it available for direct purchase by anyone for $999. This Glass edition focuses on making hands-on and frontline jobs safer and easier by offering on-the-job training and instructions, along with real-time collaboration.

In June 2020, the company also acquired North, an 8-year-old company that produced smart glasses. They claimed the acquisition would help them realize their vision of “ambient computing”, where devices connect and work together.

Google seems to be comfortable that it found its niche for its Google Glass and looks like it will stick to it for a while.

I for one still have high hopes for this technology and hope it can be perfected. Google has been known for making many life changing technologies. As this device introduced wearable technology, it is also slowly paving its way as the future of technology.