Last year Google announced a partnership with Italian eyewear-company Luxottica to develop new and more fashion-conscious versions of Glass, Google’s eyeglasses-mounted wearable computing system.
The world’s largest eyewear firm, Milan-based Luxottica has impeccable design credentials. It owns the Ray Ban and Oakley luxury sunglass brands and also make products under license for Chanel, Prada, and Tory Burch, among many other labels. This wealth of experience made Luxottica look like the ideal partner to help Google overcome the stylistic criticisms levelled at the unpopular first version of Glass, seen by many as clunky, plastic and unappealing.
The partnership hit an early roadblock when Luxottica then-chairman Leonardo del Vecchio said, in September 2014, it would embarrass him to go around with Google Glasses on his face. Since then, Google has stopped selling the first version of Glass and have also shut down the Explorer Program, which allowed early adopters to get involved in beta testing. However, Google’s Eric Schmidt denied that Google was giving up on Glass.
“We ended the Explorer program and the press conflated this into us canceling the whole project, which isn’t true,” Schmidt said, earlier this year. “Google is about taking risks and there’s nothing about adjusting Glass that suggests we’re ending it.”
Luxottica is still on board, and while there’s no sign of a release date yet, the Google Glass website says: “Hang tight – it’s going to be a exciting ride.”
The problem, though, is that fashionable frames alone might not be enough to guarantee Glass’s success. If Luxottica succeed in crafting stylish frames around a newer, smarter and more powerful Glass, it might persuade a few more fashion-conscious early adopters to take the plunge. But, it won’t avoid the more fundamental problems with Glass, which are more about function than fashion. First up, while Glass really is useful in a lot of work settings, it doesn’t have a clear standout purpose for most consumers. Until Google can clearly set out the benefits of attaching a miniscule computer to your head, most people will probably stick to their big-screen Smartphones.
Secondly, however good-looking Luxottica’s frames are, a lot of people will still think it’s invasive to go around with a camera and microphone stuck on their glasses. Unless Google decide to get rid of some of Glass’s functionality, it seems likely that it will continue to be a marginal product mostly used for professional applications. However fashion-conscious Glass becomes, it may never become fashionable.
Via SMV
