Internet spectacles like Google Glass will not take off until 2018, Juniper Research predicts

THEY were hyped as the latest thing in hi-tech wearables, but sales have been lacklustre. What will it take for Google Glass to go mainstream?

INTERNET-SAVVY spectacles like Google Glass have failed to capture an audience and will not go mainstream until at least 2018, a new report predicted today.

Despite the public release of Google Glass in the United States this year, Juniper Research blames the internet giant for lacklustre smartglasses sales, saying the company squandered its market lead.

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Smartglasses sales are only expected to pick up, the report found, after their introduction by other companies including Samsung and Microsoft.

The report, Smart Glasses: Consumer, Enterprise and Healthcare Strategies and Forecasts, found smartglasses shipments were unlikely to top 10 million until 2018, blaming “a lengthy time to market” and a “lack of a key consumer use case”.

Yours for $1500 ... Google Glass has yet to capture an audience, a report from Juniper Research argues.

Google first produced a prototype for its well-known smartglasses, Google Glass, in 2011.

But it was not until April 2013 that the company made the product available to its developers at a cost of $US1500.

The internet-connected spectacles became available to the public in May, though only to American buyers.

Google’s spectacles include a small heads-up display that sits over the wearer’s right eye, and a touch-sensitive panel for navigation.

The device connects to smartphones or wi-fi hot spots and deliver notifications, directions, messages and reminders to the small screen.

Google Glass can also be used to film video or capture photographs — a controversial addition that Juniper Research notes has raised “privacy and safety concerns from many consumers and government bodies”.

The Juniper Research report found smartglasses would not take off until more competition entered the market, naming the yet-to-be-released Samsung Gear Blink glasses as one potential challenger, as well as products from Microsoft’s Osterhout Design Group and Recon Instruments.

Originally published as Internet spectacles like Google Glass will not take off until 2018, Juniper Research predicts