Google Glass is no more, at least in the form we’re all now familiar with. The Explorer Program , which Google launched before the device was ever commercially available, will come to an end as of Jan. 19, the company announced on Google Plus.
BBC reports on Thursday that Google is still committed to presenting Glass as a consumer product, but the company offered little hint of what that might look like down the road. As part of the change, the team that works on Glass will move out of the Google X research division and become its own division under manager Ivy Ross. Ross and her team will be now working under the chief executive of Nest—makers of internet-connected thermostats and smoke detector—which was purchased by Google last year.
BBC’s technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, emphasizes that Google is definitely trying to brush this change off as just growing pains that are part of the evolving process. However, he insists that Google Glass in its current form is definitely dead . He notes the largest problem with the device: It makes users look dumb. This problem, though logically far outweighed by all the potential benefits, means that a widespread appeal was never going to happen for the device in its current form.
Now Google has to face an upset squad of early adopters who shelled out $1,500 to be on the ground floor of a dead product. On Google Glass’s G+ announcement, comments so far seem positive. However, many are asking what will happen to Glassware, when there will be new OS updates and if Explorers will be rewarded for being beta testers.
For the time being, Glass’s future seems entirely uncertain, with the company not offering any dates of availability or ideas on what the next version will be. For now, we just wait and quietly celebrate when the last Google Glasshole is born.
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