Google has decided to permanently stop the production of its iconic Google Glass Enterprisestopping sales from March 15th and supporting device updates until September 15th 2023.
Google: stop the production of Glass
The company itself gave the news, publishing a leave statement consisting of a few lines:
“Thank you for over a decade of innovation and partnership. As of March 15, 2023, we will no longer be selling Glass Enterprise Edition. We will continue to support Glass Enterprise Edition through September 15, 2023.”
In some ways, Google thus marked the end of an era: its Glass was among the first, if not the first, wearables dedicated to augmented reality. However, they have never fully taken root on the market, struggling to capture a wider pool of users, thus reserving a small niche of enthusiasts.
Four years later, looking to relaunch its VR glasses, Google came up with a revamped version aimed exclusively at businesses: Glass Enterprise Edition.
The basic idea was to guarantee employees a innovative product capable of helping them carry out their tasks and more easily achieve company objectivesthus providing a device similar to real glasses, but with a tech component and a faster processor.
In 2019 Google released an upgrade of the Enterprise, introducing the glasses Glass Enterprise Edition 2equal to the predecessor but with enhanced hardware and software.
Today the cold shower: on March 15th the production and sale of the multinational’s VR glasses will be suspended, extending the software update until September 15th.
It is not clear whether Google intends to replace its Glass with a new product in the short term. What is certain is that the augmented reality market is booming and the multinational could surprise us with a new device.
After all, as stated by the company spokesman Patrick Seybold per The Verge, Google continues to be “deeply committed to augmented reality.”