What’s going to be the next hot thing?
Of course no one knows for sure, but Google is betting that its latest invention, Google Glass, becomes a must have item by the end of the year when it’s rolled out to the general public.
Google Glass, essentially a translucent screen mounted to a device that acts similar to a smart phone—can give directions, take pictures and surf the Internet, among many other things—has debuted and seems remarkable as first glance.
There is no doubt that wearable technology, like Google Glass, has been gaining momentum with consumers in recent years. According to a survey conducted by Rackspace, a cloud computing operator, 82% of wearable technology users believe these devices have enhanced their lives. Fitbit, the VC-backed company that makes a wearable device that aims to help people live healthier lives, has had enormous success with consumers. The question is will Google Glass, which makes it possible to take pictures hands free or get directions without having to punch anything into a computer or phone, enjoy the same thing?
“This could be the beginning of a very interesting change in how the physical world and digital world interact with each other,” says Cheryl Cheng, an operating partner with BlueRun Ventures, an investor in Thirst Labs, which has developed one of the first apps for Google Glass, called Thirst Droplet. “There are lot of new opportunities that comes with this technology.”
Thirst is a social news platform that pushes out content to users based on personalized preferences that it learns. Thirst’s natural language processing engine scans millions of online news sources, including social media chatter, blogs and articles to detect which news topics are trending and delivers alerts. The company has raised $950,000 in seed capital from BlueRun Ventures and individual investors Steve Newcomb (co-founder of Powerset) and Jason Krikorian (co-founder of Sling Media).
Cheng says that Thirst was able to come out with an app for Glass quickly, “while a lot of companies are trying to figure out how to extend their current services to the Glass platform and capture data in the process.”
Others are working diligently to create apps for the platform.
Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have teamed up to form Glass Collective, a new fund to provide seed funding to startups developing for the Google Glass and Glass ecosystem. The fund has yet to announce an investment, but a spokesperson says that could happen soon.
“When entrepreneurs and engineers encounter a new computing platform, amazing things happen. Think how much the cell phone has changed, just from 2007 to 2013. We’re really interested in where Glass goes from here,” says Bill Maris, a managing partner with Google Ventures.
Besides the creation of apps many believe the real power of Glass will be its ability to capture data by having the intelligence to “see” what the person wearing the glasses is seeing.
“To know that someone is looking at a flower and then be able to bring up relevant information on that flower—to be able to push that information out—is powerful,” Cheng says.
“People make less eye contact today than ever before because of their smart phones. Imagine how it will be to be talking to someone who’s reading text messages off their glasses.”
Greg Gretsch
Managing Director
Sigma West
Glass could be yet another way for retailers to connect more meaningfully with consumers. Retailers would certainly pay up to know if a consumer is always looking in to its store when they walk by, or if they are looking at a particular item. This type of technology could allow retailers to market to specific to consumers.
Additionally, many believe that Glass can help transform America’s healthcare system by allowing medical personal to work with patients while simultaneously having hands free access to patient records, notes, and other data.
Anuj Verma, co-creator of Thirst Labs, agrees that it’s not every day that a technology like Google Glass comes to market, which is exciting, but he also understands there are questions about the device, including its wearability and social acceptance. According to Rackspace, some 53% of those who don’t wear technology said it’s because they have privacy concerns over sharing information, while 45% feel the devices are “too much like Big Brother.”
“Glass is a new way for consumers to interact and I believe wearable technologies is the next big platform that you will see companies moving toward. Google Glass is useful and easy to access, but we have to see what happens next,” says Verma, who adds that if the device is hooked up to a Twitter feed or an email account, then there could be thousands of tweets in people’s faces or pinging all day. The Glass would then become too annoying.
Source: Photo courtesy of Google Ventures
Coming together to announce the Glass Collective fund are (left to right) Marc Andreessen, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, and John Doerr, general partner at Kleiner Perkins. Fund details are undisclosed, but a spokesperson from one of the firms says no deals have yet been announced.
Greg Gretsch
, a managing director with Sigma West, who worked on multimedia products at Apple for a number of years, also has concerns about Google Glass’ long-term viability. “This is a concept, not a product,” he says. “Most people who have to wear glasses don’t want to wear glasses, I am skeptical that Google Glass will gain acceptance.”
Other challenges that people point out are that they are not made for the broader market, but rather the tech geek and they will create social awkwardness.
“People make less eye contact today than ever before because of their smart phones. Imagine how it will be to be talking to someone who’s reading text messages off their glasses,” Gretsch says. “These are distractions to normal human connections.”
Additionally, privacy and other security concerns mount. Google Glass has already been banned in casinos in New Jersey and Nevada and in bars all nationwide.
“It’s a privacy issue. Would you want someone to take pictures in gym locker rooms without you even knowing it?” Gretsch asks.
Most likely, Glass will probably go through a bunch of iterations before it gains general acceptance.
“It probably won’t look the way it does today or cost what it does today or work the same way it does today, but it’s a great social experiment that pushing boundaries and it gets me excited,” Verma says.
Danielle Fugazy is a New York-based contributor. She can be reached at dfugazy@fugazygroup.com.
