A Google X exec has stated that wearables have a long way to go before things become easy.
When it comes to propelling the tech world forward, it is easy to say that Google has played an exceptionally important role, but at the same time, an executive from that company’s X division has stated that the wearable technology effort is facing an uphill battle before it truly finds its way to more level ground.
The Google X division is responsible for not only the development of wearables but also self driving cars and other projects.
That is the division that is responsible for some of the most ambitious and outside the box projects to which they refer as “moon shots”. Beyond self driving cars, Google X has been looking into a little bit of nearly everything else, such as wearable technology in the form of a contact lens that can read the blood glucose level of a wearer with diabetes, for example. It was this division that first came up with the web connected augmented reality Glass headset.
While the division has made considerable advances in wearable technology, it doesn’t expect that things will get easier, yet.
Google Glass remains in its prototype phase, and despite the fact that it has been receiving a tremendous amount of media attention and early adopters have had a lot of fun using them in a number of different interesting and useful ways, the devices – and the company behind them – have also been subject to considerable criticism. An executive from Google X has revealed that these, and wearables as a whole, have a long way to go before the general public is convinced of the value that they bring.
The current head of the Google X program, Astro Teller spoke at a conference recently and explained that “I have learned, at a certain next level, that wearables are tough.” This is not a difficult statement to believe, particularly because the company has faced a considerable struggle along the way with Google Glass, alone. In the United States, it has been banned from some bars due to privacy concerns, and it has generated struggles with drivers who have used the devices while behind the wheel. In fact, a moviegoer found himself facing questioning by the FBI when the device was worn into a movie theatre and there had been piracy concerns – though it turns out that the gadget was, actually turned off.
As these wearable technology headsets make their way into more countries, such as the United Kingdom, more laws continue appearing against the use of the devices. In the U.K., they are banned from movie theatres for the aforementioned reason. Teller explained that if wearables are ever going to catch on with the average consumer, then when it comes to the tech, “it has to be qualitatively better”
