Aside from introducing augmented reality dinosaurs to Search, Google has apparently acquired AR glasses maker, North as well. Both companies made the announcement recently, and Google stated this will “broader [its] efforts to build helpful devices and services.”
New Google AR Glasses in the Future?
Most of us may have already been aware of Google’s initial foray into the smart glasses business; evidently, it didn’t do too well. Despite this, it seems that the company isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. Buying North means that the tech giant now has even more expertise working towards making a better version of the Glass—or perhaps something completely different.
Speaking of which, North did release its own smart glasses last year called the Focals 1.0, which had an eye-opening price tag of US$1,000. Surprisingly (and expectedly), this price was reduced by almost half within a month after the smart glasses was first launched. Those aside, the ‘lessons learned’ from Google and North’s time making smart glasses may prove to be beneficial moving forward.
This acquisition means that Google’s pursuit towards providing consumers with “ambient computing” devices may become even more apparent in the coming years. The company’s ambient computing goal is aimed specifically towards “a future where helpfulness is all around you, where all your devices just work together and technology fades into the background.” Let’s hope this is not done at the expense of reduced user privacy.