Is Google Glass the Ultimate Game Changer or a Dud?

By Carl Weiss

While technological revolutions come and go, there has never before been such controversy over a product that has yet to reach store shelves.  What I am referring to is Google Glass, the wearable computing device that is going to take technology to a whole new level…literally.  The device itself sports nothing radically new.  All the devices and operations performed by Glass are available on any Smartphone or tablet PC.  However, what has rankled many is the fact that Glass is a virtual camera/video platform that can start snapping away unnoticed.  This has caused a number of institutions to ban their use and has spawned a legislators to consider new laws designed to limit when and where people can use Glass.

Glass Go Home

Most movie theaters already forbid customers from bringing in audio or video recording devices, but

the more subtle Google Glass could add another wrinkle to those policies. Lawmakers in West Virginia have attempted to make it illegal to drive wearing the connected eyewear, while casinos that normally prohibit recording devices are also likely to enact rules for wearing the glasses in sensitive gaming areas.  http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/google-glass-nato-theater-ban-1200479394/

Ina blog on idigitaltimes called, “5 Places Your Futuristic Eyewear is NotWelcome,”

Dave Meinert, who runs the 5 Point Café in Seattle, said that Google Glass users would have to take off their high tech eyewear if they want to enter. He has put up a sign that reads: "Respect our customers' privacy as we'd expect them to respect yours." 

Parks departments across the country are just itching for the chance to call a ban on Google Glass, according to the Daily Mail. "This is the ultimate snooper's gizmo. If you walk around with a video camera filming, it's obvious what you're doing, but with Google Glass, it's much, much more invasive," Dan Tench, of legal firm Olswang, told the Daily Mail.

West Virginian lawmakers are working on the passage of a bill to ban Google Glass while driving. They say that the advanced computerized eyewear could become another distraction for drivers, the Star Tribune reported. They have offered an amendment to include language that would make it illegal to "use a wearable computer with head mounted display" while driving. 

Whether any of these prohibitions are even constitutional will need to stand the test of time.  What is certain is that with only 2,000 pairs of Google Glasses roaming the planet at present (at $1,500 a pop), this is only the tip of the techno-hysteria iceberg.  What will happen once glass reaches store shelves is anybody’s guess.  Of course, whether the device will be adopted by the general public at all is still uncertain.

The Giggle factor

Already detractors have been pointing out everything from the obvious loss of style points that Glass wearers will need to deal with to skits on Saturday Night Live that make Glass owners seem like the ultimate geeks.  And while there have been other notable tech concepts that have bombed big time in the past, such as Apple’s Newton, it will be interesting to see whether the urge to unleash your inner Borg will outweigh the giggle factor in the long run.

If you will recall, Apple Computer introduced the Newton in 1993 as one of the first personal digital 

Photograph showing Apple Newton hand held computer, cleaned up background in photo editing software (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

assistants in existence.  This was in the days before Smartphones or tablet PC’s were invented.  Still the device’s resemblance to later technology cannot be denied. Equipped with a pen-stylus that enabled users to draw or write notes on the device (which would be automatically be translated into text), Newton came equipped with a limited number of applications designed to untether a computer user from their PC.  While clearly ahead of its time, the Newton was largely considered a failure and was dropped in 1998.

So is it possible that Glass could suffer the same fate?  Unlike Newton, Glass can do much more than read and write.  Google is already wooing app developers as well as predicting that the wearable-computer market could be as big as $6 billion by 2016.  Like Smartphones, which were considered a niche product for the first few years after their introduction, only time will tell whether Glass or any imitators that arise can overcome the stigma of sporting these in-your-face devices, as well as the high cost of ownership.

Carl Weiss is president of W Squared Media Group, a company dedicated to keeping clients on the cutting edge of technology.  You can hear Carl live at 4pm Eastern every Tuesday on Blog Talk Radio.