Published , by Morgan Shaver
Published , by Morgan Shaver
Google recently announced that it will no longer sell its Glass Enterprise smart glasses, the successor to Google Glass. In addition, Google will cease the support of Glass Enterprise software this coming September.
“Thank you for over a decade of innovation and partnership. As of March 15, 2023, we will no longer sell Glass Enterprise Edition. We will continue supporting Glass Enterprise Edition until September 15, 2023,” Google announced on its website.
While Google is discontinuing Glass Enterprise, this doesn’t mean it’s out of the smartglasses market entirely. As reported by outlets like CNBC, Google previewed new smartglasses last summer that can reportedly translate and transcribe speech in real-time, with Google planning to continue testing augmented reality glasses prototypes moving forward.
Google pulling back Glass Enterprise is notable as the company was among the first to offer smartglasses to tech enthusiasts, with Google Glass first being sold to early adopters in 2013 for $1,500. In 2019, it released a newer version, for $999. Unfortunately, Google Glass and Glass Enterprise have struggled over the years to catch on as a more mainstream product. As noted by CNBC, the device’s built-in camera also led to discussions over things like privacy issues.
It’ll be interesting to see moving forward whether Google unveils a new line of smartglasses. Now that you’re caught up on Google ending sales of Google Enterprise, be sure to brush up with some of our previous coverage including Apple reportedly delaying its AR glasses in favor of its mixed-reality HMD, and Google sunsetting its post-Stadia “Immersive Stream for Games” cloud service.