Google Glass 2.0: Failure or Success?

Google Glass first attempt at entering the market was a complete failure. The wearable failed to connect with consumers, making Google to withdraw it sales from the market. It introduction was first announced in 2012 as one of the best products of the year. The “explorer edition” was later introduced to the general public in May, 2014. However, as of January 2015, Glass has already jumped the track entirely, failing miserably.

Google, however, did not give up on the technology. On their website, during the dark days of Glass withdrawal from the market, the company appreciates its customers by saying, “Thanks for exploring with us,” and assures them that, “The journey doesn’t end here.”

True to their words, Google did not end the journey entirely. They introduced Google Glass 2.0, which targets manufacturing and other enterprises, rather than just individual consumers. Google partnered with different industry experts to create this new version of Glass. The focus is aimed at meeting the demands and expectations of enterprise customers. Hence, Google Glass 2.0 came with enhanced battery life and power, among other improvements. This can only make it easy for the renewed technology to meet greater challenges.

Google partnered with agricultural equipment manufacturer AGCO to test out the efficiency of the product. Thus, in the last two years, workers at AGCO have been using Google Glass Enterprise Edition to view assembly instructions, generate reports and get remote video support. The obvious question begging for answers now is: Will Google Glass succeeds its second attempt? Let’s take a tour of some of the factors that may influence the success or failure of Google Glass 2.0.

Factors Supporting the Success of Google Glass 2.0

• Second Attempt at Success: Most products often find it difficult to succeed at first attempt. But the experiences and insights gained from a failed attempt often come handy during a retrial. The second attempt by Google that produced new Glass EE may work out fine.
• Influence of Collaboration: Google’s partnership with different manufacturing companies during the making of Google Glass 2.0 might work out in favor of the product. This is because it now involves different stakeholders who are interested in ensuring its success. Thus, AGCO and other manufacturing companies have introduced Google Glass EE to their assembly lines and a number of great successes have been accomplished already. One of the benefits of Glass EE is that it has the ability to simplify industrial processes and speed up repetitive but vital tasks.
• Greater Compatibility: Google glass 2.0 has greater alignment capacity. It was perfectly made to work with other equipment and tools. This alignment helps to accelerate manufacturing trends in areas such as: virtual welding, virtual graphics, and other capabilities.
• Increase Productivity in Manufacturing: Since Google Glass allows connection with other technology, it therefore, promotes productivity. This is so since operators can now multi-task. Workers can free up their hands as they interact with the machinery and the information simultaneously. Undoubtedly, this will help to improve real-time management as well as increase productivity.

Factors That May Negatively Affect the Success of Google Glass 20

• Stiff Competition: The success of Google Glass Enterprise Edition may be threatened by intense competition from Microsoft’s HoloLens. The HoloLens from Microsoft has enjoyed a great deal of success in the market. This can constitute a great challenge for Google Glass 2.0.
• Pricing: Price is also an issue that may militate against the success of Google Glass 2.0. Google’s prices for Glass Enterprise Edition were initially between $1,300 and $1,500 per unit. This may really be a huge investment for small businesses that are just starting out.

Final Verdict

Given the above outlines, the potentials for success outweigh the probability of failure for the Google Glass 2.0. It therefore follows that there is a higher likelihood for Google Glass to succeed on its second attempt. The experience and insight gained from the initial failure will definitely pay-off this time.