Google Glass was a project that came out from the company's X division. With big aims and intentions, the public seems to be not ready for such device. Google is putting an end to it, making it disappear from the web. The company wants the public to forget it ever tried to sell the product.
Glass' tagline "getting technology out of the way" becomes more ambiguous this way.
After months of silence, Google slowly scrubs the internet clean of the wearable device. Glass-related accounts on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have been shut down. The only parting farewell was only posted on its Google+ page, saying:
"Hi Explorers, we've had a blast hanging out with you on G+ throughout the Explorer Program. From now on, if you have any questions about your Glass, you can get in touch with us here."
The message links to a new support page with little more than a phone number and a web contact form.
After about four years unveiling the pricey wearable on 2012's Google I/O, 9to5Google first reported about Google's attempt to remove any materials about the project from the web. This doesn’t come as a surprise since the plans to bring Glass to the consumers' market have been long abandoned.
And for that matter, Glass' social presence on the web and anything Google has shared with the world regarding the ambitious product, are little more than a memory.
On Twitter, many interpreted the disappearance of Glass' social media presence accounts to the final end to Google's effort in marketing the product to consumers.
And by eliminating any marketing materials on the web, this marks a major move after Alphabet's Google stopped selling Glass to consumers in 2015. At that time, Google noted that it was time for a strategy reset, and considered "rebooting" it into something that is more preferable.
Head of Google's X research lab said that the hype surrounding the prototype became overblown, considering Glass as a merely prototype and not a finished product.
Ahead of Time
When Google Glass was first unveiled in 2012, it was greeted with many enthusiasms and criticisms. The device that is a wearable similar to spectacles minus the glasses, allows users to access the internet through its eye-level screen. The device also allows users to record video by using a small mounted camera in its frame.
While the project may see a bright future, people mocked its awkward appearance. Moreover, people were expressing concerns about how it could be used to make videos without the subject's knowledge.
It's understandable that Google wants to move on from its "unfinished product", but the deletion of the many accounts Google Glass had marks the history of the wearable. The drastic move is seen as unfortunate to some, especially those that eye on the future of voice command. Glass is essentially at the start of the wearable timeline, it's a product which is said to start the Apple Watch and Samsung Gear project.
Those wearables from competitors have better reception. But as Glass that worn on the head, the public seems to be not yet ready for the era.
Glass is either ahead of its time, or its essentially not needed, at least in the current time frame. Google however did redesigned it to be more appealing to then know it didn't go as planned either. The company then concluded that bringing the head-worn wearable seems not to be a great idea after all.
But despite being pronounced "dead" by some, Glass is still very much a thing and won't be killed at least just yet. The momentum for the "next Glass" came in 2015 when the development of the device stopped. Nest's CEO Tony Fadell took the product line over and said it would receive a redesign "from scratch." News followed in September 2015, saying that Google had hired number of former Amazon employees who had work on the Fire Phone, to work on a refreshed product with Google under "Project Aura."
Glass may be gone, but now it lives under Aura's umbrella.
The team behind Aura is working on a few different devices, one of which, the "EE" or Enterprise Edition, is being referred as the continuation of Glass. Google also allows FCC images of the Enterprise Edition to go public at the end of January 2016.
With the disappearance of Glass and the end of its development, Google is loosening its grip a little. Glass for Work partner groups are now able to get the device into more hands and test the product more widely.
Further reading: Google X Is Having A New Logo and Name. And It Is Not Anymore Google