“Google Glasses seem cool. The technology is remarkable and Google should be rightfully praised for pushing the envelope,” Yoni Heisler writes for NetworkWorld. “But given how Apple is curiously held to standards that no other company in the world is held to, here is what the response to Google Glasses would have been if the product came from Apple and not Google.”
Yep, the company that revolutionized the way we listen to music and turned the smartphone market up on its head is now tackling… eyewear. I suppose without a decider like Steve Jobs in the mix at Apple anymore, beta products, though seemingly cool, are now being deemed good enough to make it to market.
It’s sad, really. A company like Apple was once synonymous with “great” and now they’re announcing products that are clearly just “good enough.”
…Basically, if you want to spend $1,500 to wear a mountable video camera, Apple Glasses may be just the thing you’re looking for.
Okay, Apple’s Glasses can do a bit more than that, but is it really a product that anyone needs? By all accounts, Apple Glasses is a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Exactly! Thanks for illustrating the double standard so nicely, Yoni.
(And, we don’t call Google “Our Lady of Perpetual Beta” for nothing.)
As they stand right now, Google Goggles are the most ridiculous thing to come out of the gadget industry in the longest time.
I disagree. Although I don’t like many things about Google, I applaud their efforts to pursue augmented reality. Although Apple didn’t do it first, I believe that with a bit more development, this could be a big thing. People scoffed at the iPhone and the iPad.
I applaud Google for a lot of things and the one thing I applaud the glasses for is their innovation. For that yes I applaud them for.
Having said that, while the glasses in some way interesting, they certainly are ridiculous.
I remember Bluetooth head sets. I thought they were ridiculous when I first saw them and still do yet they are fairly common.
The usefulness of Bluetooth has always been obvious. Their usefulness squashes the fact that some of them are very ridiculous as well, no to mention people looking ridiculous standing looking like they are talking to themselves. But the ridiculousness of Google Glasses pales in comparison.
I can imagine a day when the technology improves and the aesthetics improve also where they will not be so incredibly ridiculous. But that day is not today.
They are just starting out. Give the idea a chance. The put downs on this site are just jealousy. Google did not steal this one from Apple for a change. Give them credit and a chance to improve it.
They’ll get better of course, but I have a hunch these things are better suited for the workplace. Police officers, in warehouses, drivers, construction, but not so hot as a consumer items.
They are still ridiculous, unless you want to be Duck Dodgers in the 25th and half century.
My sentiments exactly…
You spend $1500, and then hate yourself, because it sucks and it’s annoying. Google Goggles is the next bluetooth ear peace, one more annoying thing to watch people, not paying attention to you, while you talk to them.
Google glasses are happening because the technology now exists to make it possible. I’ve yet to see a compelling reason why average consumers might want them.
Apple would work the opposite way round. They would start by defining the problem that the product is intended to solve and then set about creating the ideal product for that purpose.
Apart from being a head-worn video camera and making me look like a dork, what might Google glasses actually do to enhance my life ?
I believe they will be able to give you the most consistent head ache ever! Try putting something in the upper corner of your glasses and then look at it for a few minutes. Yes, feel the pain. You would think one of the idiots at Google would have said something when it was suggested.
Maybe a device that wraps around your wrist that is easy to see and share would be better? I am sure they will copy that too!
Good point Jersey Trader,
I put on a pair of reading glasses and gazed up into the corner. Not only did if become painful after a while, but my left eye, which acted in concert with my right eye, also became nearly useless. I was starting at a blurry nosepiece.
Unless you have eyes like the late Marty Feldman, this could be an issue.
Good point Jersey Trader,
I put on a pair of reading glasses and gazed up into the corner. Not only did if become painful after a while, but my left eye, which acted in concert with my right eye, also became nearly useless. I was starting at a blurry nosepiece.
Unless you have eyes like the late Marty Feldman, this could be an issue. Especially for all the skiers, snowboarders and cyclists who we are told will be wearing these.
I highly recommend that you move your monitor away from the window or close the blinds lest you look outside for a while and look back at your monitor briefly. It could be terrible.
“Apart from being a head-worn video camera and making me look like a dork, what might Google glasses actually do to enhance my life ?”
Well, they definitely won’t get the wearer any dates! LOL 🙂
$1500 for a beta product…and people bitch about Apple Maps.
Google glass serves no reality based purpose. It is a cumbersome device to have google popups in your vision. Especially if you don’t wear glasses to start with. Can you imagine the google ads eventually?
This says it all: http://tapastic.com/episode/2058
I spent good money having a cataract removed and laser surgery so I wouldn’t have to wear glasses. These goglasses will not cut it with my generation.
So you don’t wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from UV radiation, thus risking further eye damage? Maybe your generation ought to get with the groove, daddy-o…
It obviously slipped your notice, but Google Glasses don’t actually have prescription lenses, or any lenses, come to that, in most examples of people wearing them. I have seen photos with dark wrap-around lenses in place, like Oakley or Bloc glasses, and I can certainly see these being very popular with cyclists, skiers or snowboarders, or other leisure/sports pursuits.
If I can see areas where something like this would be appealing, why are others so lacking in imagination?
Oh, wait, these are the same people who said exactly the same about the iPad…
Suddenly your face is viewed as non-symmetrical. Studies show that symmetry in the face is a physically attractive trait.
So try getting a date wearing those kind of glasses! Just what girls want, guys taking their picture every five seconds. Why don’t you just get NERD tattooed on your forehead? It would be a lot cheaper.
Asymmetry is actually what studies have shown to be judged an attractive feature in people’s faces.
I should have provided at least one reference pertaining to my point about human facial symmetry. http://dwz.psych.ucla.edu/ZaidelHessamianSymmetryJournal.pdf
And, then the article would also say “…By all accounts, Apple Glasses is a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist. However, maybe with the innovations brought to their aforementioned devices by Google will help to identify a usefulness for this innovation.”
As if Apple always needs Google to help them innovate.
The problem with Google building hardware devices, is that it’s never done to really advance anything other than their underlying desire to market their user’s. So, imagine the number of directed ads you’ll have to put up with at some point for using a device like this.
Google glasses will only be bought by people who like google.
As a glasses wearer I will never buy them. I like to see where I’m going whether I’m walking or driving.
Plus your eyes will be drawn to the image in te Corner so expect a lot of people’s eyesight getting worse.
The only people gonna win from this is opticians as people’s eyesight gets worse and more people start wearing real glasses.
And that asks an important question – if you wear glasses because you have a sight problem the only way you can wear google glasses is with custom strength lenses.
Which means the only people who can wear these things are people who don’t wear glasses, in which case they won’t buy them because wearing glasses effects your ‘image’ and you won’t look ‘cool’.
I seriously can’t see these things selling at all in large numbers.
It’s googles ‘Zune’.
Why is everyone taking pot shots at Apple?
“It’s sad, really. A company like Apple was once synonymous with “great” and now they’re announcing products that are clearly just “good enough.”
Plainly stupid, ignorant and selfish writing. Yoni Heisler, your article is for your own limited potential, point of view.
Missed this part, did ya?
“But given how Apple is curiously held to standards that no other company in the world is held to, here is what the response to Google Glasses would have been if the product came from Apple and not Google.”
Read more at http://macdailynews.com/2013/02/25/if-apple-had-unveiled-google-glasses/#kizTIwTCDBhRclAV.99
Every thing google does is about farming personal data to sell to advertisers
That’s the only reason they have gone into the mobile phone business and now with the chrome book laptop.
In essence the chrome book is a device that will send everything to google that you do on it. Searches, app use, personal information, txt and content in documents – everything will be accessed by google and they will sell it all so ther high paying advertisers can make more money and google can charge them more.
Google ARE NOT into hardware to make the user experience better or create better products, they’re in in for data that they can farm from the devices period.
Google Glasses, is nothing more than a ‘solution’ looking for a ‘problem’.
If Apple unveil Google Glassess….
… ANAL-ysts will say Apple is doomed because Apple has gone mad and stray from its core business. As a result, AAPL’s stock will head South faster than Mr. Ballmer sweating. 🙂
my 2 cents…
If Apple unveil Google Glassess….
… ANAL-ysts will say Apple is doomed because Apple has gone mad and stray from its core business. As a result, AAPL’s stock will head South faster than Mr. Ballmer sweat. 🙂
my 2 cents…
There is nothing innovative about Google Glass. Eyeglasses have been around forever. /s
Today it is bad enough to put up with narcissistic people notifying you every time they check in somewhere. Now you will have to put up with video, as well.
But wait! I hadn’t thought of my buddies taking them into a strip bar! Problem is, in a strip bar, glasses often grabbed by the performer and placed in some nefarious places.
So I am told!
SPOT ON!
I’m training my goldfish, and adapting these glasses would allow me to extend my research significantly. Shiva can learn to activate the glasses by bumping against the plastic castle in the aquarium. I must learn if they can be waterproofed.