Google Glass Dead? Google To Halt Selling Internet-Linked Glass Eyewear Amid Privacy Concerns
The days when you can buy Google Glass in the market are numbered.
In an official statement, the U.S. tech giant confirmed that it will stop selling the current version of the Internet-connected eyewear starting Jan. 19.
"We're closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what's coming next. January 19 will be the last day to get Glass Explorer Edition," Google Glass said in a post made on its Google Plus account on Friday.
Glass is a hands-free device that features a thumbnail-sized screen above the wearer's right eye.
Since it can secretly take pictures and videos, the US$1,500-device has raised privacy concerns in the two years it had been on sale.
The sales moratorium was made at the same time it announced Glass' spin-off from the secretive Google X lab, where it was invented.
The company will continue to support its Glass at Work initiative, which aims to sell the glasses to enterprise customers, Time reported.
Glass is also moving out of the Google X research lab to become its own independent unit, which aims to develop a more polished and affordable version of the wearable data product.
"In the meantime, we're continuing to build for the future, and you'll start to see future versions of Glass when they're ready," it added.
Google also announced that the business of further developing the Glass will be reorganized by Tony Fadell, who is the chief operating executive of Nest.
Nest is the home automation company that Google bought for $3.2 billion last year.
Ivy Ross, the veteran marketing executive head, will continue to lead Glass and retain day-to-day duties and authority, but will start reporting to Fadell, according a report from The Verge.
"As we look to the road ahead, we realize that we've outgrown the lab and so we're officially "graduating" from Google[x] to be our own team here at Google," Glass said.
"We're thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality," it added.
In October, Google confirmed it received a regulatory approval in Canada.
