Google has canned sales of its Glass Enterprise Edition smart glasses and plans to end support later this year as multiple vendors contend with an uncertain economy by cutting from extended reality divisions.
A note on the Glass website thanked viewers “for over a decade of innovation and partnership” for the augmented reality (AR) device.
“As of March 15, 2023, we will no longer sell Glass Enterprise Edition,” according to the note. “We will continue supporting Glass Enterprise Edition until September 15, 2023.”
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Google Ends Glass Sales
CRN has reached out to Mountain View, Calif.-based Google for comment.ADVERTISEMENT
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Allen Falcon, CEO of Westborough, Mass.-based Google partner Cumulus Global, No. 84 on the 2022 CRN Fast Growth 150 list, told CRN that while Glass was “interesting technology,” the cost and adoption curve was too much to interest his small- and midsize-business customers.
Despite the setback, a future where extended reality is ubiquitous is still possible, Falcon said.
“There’s a place for augmented reality in a lot of industry,” he said. I don’t think we have figured out exactly what the industry needs or what folks are comfortable with yet.”
The cuts come after multiple IT vendors, including Google, Microsoft and Salesforce, have cited moderated demand for digital tools since the height of the pandemic.
For Google parent Alphabet, the business slowdown led to the announced layoff of about 12,000 employees.
Microsoft—a Google rival in cloud computing and extended reality gear—announced the layoff of 10,000 employees in January, cutting from its HoloLens virtual reality headset division and its Internet of Things (IoT) division.
Google first launched Glass in 2013, with some partners—Falcon included—interested in the tool’s adoption and what it could mean for the channel.
The first version, more focused on consumers, was discontinued in 2015. Glass Enterprise Edition rolled out in 2017, and Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 came out in 2019.LEARN MORE: Wearables
Wade Tyler Millward is an associate editor covering cloud computing and the channel partner programs of Microsoft, IBM, Red Hat, Oracle, Salesforce, Citrix and other cloud vendors. He can be reached at [email protected].
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