Much of the recent talk about Google Glass has revolved around the social acceptability of taking computerized eye-wear into coffee shops, with one cafe in Seattle already preempting the trend by banning its customers from ever wearing one on premises (for PR-reasons, it turns out). Yet before Google Glass or its competitors really hit the problem of mainstream etiquette, they'll have to get through some serious road testing in niche, industrial environments.
Think warehouses, construction zones, emergency workers and machinery repair.
New York-based Vuzix claims it is the only other company launching a device this summer that closely parallels Google Glass. Its M100 (pictured below) looks like a Jawbone earpiece that's been extended to include a rectangular unit for the eye. It runs on Android and will cost under $500 when it becomes available.
Last week the company announced it had started shipping prototypes of the M100 to developers, and the company now says that so far, interested software engineers are largely working on apps that utilize the device for medical professionals and field-service engineers. (eg. The person called out to fix your Xerox machine.)
Vuzix CEO Paul Travers said developers he'd been speaking to were more interested in the industrial use cases for the device than what they could potentially offer consumers with the likes of photography or gaming apps. "A field-service technician might be looking at a piece of equipment, and then [the M100] says 'Look to your right,' and you can replace the device that needs to be replaced," he said.
In some cases the unit's in-built camera could live-stream video back to a corporate headquarters, allowing for a third party to see what the wearer is doing and give instructions in real-time, or it could just record and send the video on without any live engagement.
Travers suggested big brands like Mars might like keeping an eye, as it were, on the person setting up their product display in a store. "People are writing software to do that," he said, adding that some of the programmers looking at Vuzix's device were from the in-house development teams of field services companies.
Vuzix bills the M100 as the world's first hands-free smartphone display. The device is not a standalone computer but works in tandem with another Android tablet or smartphone.
Another similar-but-bulkier device is the the Golden-i (pictured above), a standalone wearable computer produced by Kopin in collaboration with Verizon and Motorola Solutions. The head set runs on Windows CE, and has WiFi connectivity. The latest version announced at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 weighed 4.5 ounces and could be worn straight over the head or on a helmet.
Kopin also has industrial use in mind for Golden-i, including firefighting and police work. A demonstration of the headset at CES 2012 showed how a police officer could command the headset to display a street camera, follow a map and receive an alert about a missing child.
Vuzix's Travers says the Golden-i is "definitely an industrial device" and is designed for a "very tough environment. It's big and bulky."
Google's more mainstream approach with Project Glass looks trickier to pull off since aesthetics become more important. "They're working hard to make the use case mass market, and I think that being in the mass market you need things that look better, like sunglasses," says Travers. He adds that "Vuzix is going down that path," but doesn't give specifics.
Seeking Alpha suggests that the very idea of Google Glass successfully going mainstream is hard to fathom, and that the media has over-hyped its use case for consumers. "Many have been touting Project Glass as an invention that will somehow make the smartphone obsolete, and revolutionize the way we interact with the world," the site's commentator said. "However, I have yet to see a single piece of analysis question whether a market for a smartphone accessory that you wear on your nose exists."
Still, examples of wearable technology are gradually falling into various categories from "fun" gadgets like Nike's FitBit and Fuel Band to "serious" tech like Second Sight's Argus II Bionic Eye, says Tony Rizzo, the organizer of a wearable technology conference taking place in New York this July.
"We are truly at the very beginning of the next major wave of technology," Rizzo said. "As with BYOD [bring your own device] it will span both business and consumer and simply become pervasive over the next five years." When it comes to glasses, though, it may just take longer to find mainstream acceptance.
