Google shelves sales of hi-tech goggles

Memo to bank innovation teams: Take off the rose-tinted spectacles and put on your smart watches, Google ceases consumer sales of Glass eyewear.

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Google shelves sales of hi-tech goggles

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Google is shutting down the Explorer programme which was driving adoption of the Glass product and halting sales of the controversial specs while it focuses on an unspecified "future version of Glass".

Beloved of geeks worldwide, Google Glass failed to excite the general public, who found the technology not only creepy but also painfully embarrassing.

Aware of the problems, Google initially attempted to overcome concerns by publishing a list of the do's and don'ts for Glass users, with the reprimand "Don't be a Glasshole".

Google's decision to shelve the product will not come as a surprise to early adopters - for many of whom the novelty had already begun to wane - but it will be an irritation to development teams and innovation heads at the handful of banks and startups that had been working on banking applications for the smart specs. These included Turkey's TEB, Banco Sabadell and Caixa Bank in Spain, Westpac, Fidelity and the Ukraine's Privat Bank.

The news is unlikely to dent the growing wearables market however, which is ticking along nicely for applications primed for integration with the next generation of smart watches. All eyes will be on Apple in this respect, as the consumer tech company gears up for the launch of its own timepiece/payments product in the near future.

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Comments: (1)

Elizabeth Lumley

Elizabeth Lumley Global FinTech Commentator at Girl, Disrupted

Having worn one, I'm not surprised. It was a bit lame. People *wished* it was cool and tried very hard to be very very excited when they tried it on, but...really? I'm not a big fan of the current crop of watches, but once the design and wearablity is improved, watches are a much more reasonable route forward for wearables. 

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