When Can Indians Look Forward For Google Glasses?

Google Glass is not coming to India—at least not on April 15. If you’re visiting, or are in, the US, you can go to the Google site and purchase Glass in any shade or frame for $1,500 plus taxes, subject to availability.

According to Accenture’s digital consumer tech survey 2014, consumers in India ranked highest among six countries (Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, the UK, and the US) in the percentages that plan to buy consumer electronics products during 2015, and were most interested in buying fitness monitors, smart watches and Internet-enabled eyeglasses.

But why should Indians, or for that matter anyone, be so interested?

It’s because Google Glass is no ordinary eyewear (though you may be happy if the Indian customs department thinks so if you do manage to wrangle one in India on 15 April).

Weighing a little over 40 grams, it is a wearable computer that can surf the Internet, record audio, shoot video, perform searches, give directions using maps, check emails and appointments.

It can also SMS and make phone calls by using Glass as a Bluetooth headset with any Bluetooth-compatible phone.

The Glass screen is positioned just above the right eye to ensure eye contact with other people and keep distractions at a minimum—the screen is off by default. But when activated, it “looks a lot like a 25-inch color TV floating about 8 feet in front of you”, according to the Google Inc. website.

Glass has adjustable nosepads, a 5 megapixel camera, Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, 12 gigabytes (GB) of usable memory synced with Google cloud storage (16 GB Flash total). It has a battery and includes a micro USB cable and charger.

The MyGlass companion app lets you set up contacts, Glassware, and other features. MyGlass for Android requires Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher. For iOS, it requires iOS 7 or later.

Google Glass may also get more appealing. On 24 March, Google struck a deal with Luxottica (LUX), the maker of eyeglasses like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, and Oliver Peoples to integrate Glass into its products and sell the device through its wholesale and retail outlets.

But if Glass has so many positives, why are its users being called ‘Glassholes’?

Google Glass’ feature list is impressive, yet those who sport Google Glasses have been looked upon suspiciously for invading privacy, been banned from bars and restaurants and given tickets for distracted driving.

Privacy concerns, most importantly, may abound with consumer wearables becoming more sophisticated, capturing what the user sees, hears or even feels through biorhythmic responses.

By 2020, consumer data collected from wearable devices will drive 5% of sales from the Global 1000 companies, according to research firm Gartner Inc. The number of smartphone apps requesting to share consumer data will increase two-fold by 2015, indicating a rise in the number of marketers or proprietors who seek access to customer profile data.

The technical hurdles that have stalled the adoption of wearables (battery life, augmented reality, chip evolution and bandwidth) are quickly eroding, “opening doors to creative minds determined to exploit this technology for commercial gain as evidenced by sizeable investments in wearable technology from Samsung (smartwatch Galaxy Gear), Google (Google Glass, Android Wear), Apple (rumoured iWatch) and Microsoft (rumoured Surface watch)”, according to Gartner.

Source: Agencies