Google Glass and business: the departing train

Things that previously could only be found on the pages of science fiction novels are more and more firmly entrenched in the daily lives of millions of people. Nobody can surprise anyone with a robot vacuum cleaner, and even small children can handle an iPad. Another innovative project from Google - smart Glass glasses, are also gradually starting to change our familiar world.

The technology is now available for developers, and customers will most likely have access to it in 2014. Glasses Google Glass equipped with a camera, a special navigation system, can show alerts about new messages, know how to respond to user commands and much more. But the most important thing for the business community is the ability to create applications that display information that complements the familiar picture of the device owner’s world. It can forever change many industries.

I must say that Google is not the first time to change the way companies do business. If you recall, the search giant has already replaced the Yellow Pages directory, inflicted steady damage to individual navigation systems and traditional email applications and so on.

Google products at the same time improve the lives of people, facilitate the implementation of their work tasks and pose a threat to many businesses that do not always have time to adapt to a changing world. In the case of Google Glass, the situation will not differ by a millimeter - the one who manages to rebuild and apply the new product and the opportunities that he opens up, will be able not only to survive, but also to make a profit, and those who fail to do this can miss serious opportunities.

Technology penetration

Repeating the business model in the Mobile segment, Google opens the Glass platform to third-party developers. The company contributes to the creation of an ecosystem of applications that will ensure the further penetration of technology into people's daily lives.

Ultimately, Google Glass is not just glasses connected to the Internet, an ordinary analogue of smart watches, which are now a great many. No, this is a global platform for the delivery of digital services and products with breakthrough customer experience - the user can get something that he could not even dream about before, and the service will actually be built into his everyday world.



With the help of Glass, each of us will be able to ask questions and receive answers on the line of sight, take photos, simply ordering the glasses to do this, instantly translate from one language to another (very convenient when traveling!), Receive a GPS route right before our eyes, and so on. This is real fantasy.

But in which industries will Glass penetrate faster?

Who should strain

In fact, Google Glass is capable of changing dozens of industries from cinema to air travel. But there are areas that will be influenced in the first place. Here are just a few examples:

GPS

Generally speaking, the traditional GPS industry is already dead because it has a whole bunch? People have all the necessary applications right in their smartphone. Partly in the hands of companies developing their GPS projects is playing into the hands of the fact that using a phone while driving is prohibited in many places, but Google Glass will soon occupy this niche.

The medicine

Just imagine the situation - the surgeon is doing the operation, and right before his eyes he has the whole patient’s medical history - X-ray photographs, test results, information about a possible allergy to drugs, and so on. In addition, Glass can save many lives of patients who require complex operations, but there are no surgeons who can do them where they live - now an experienced specialist will be able to perform operations remotely with the hands of his colleagues who wear smart glasses.

Repair and household work

To fix the toilet bowl does not need to be an academician, but still it requires some knowledge. Objectively, to do something with your own hands, when you need to constantly be distracted by a paper instruction or manual on the Internet, is not so easy, it's easier to call a professional. But with the help of Google Glass, an “Internet plumber” will be able to see where to stick in front of him. Moreover, at the same time, you can call a real professional and act according to his instructions - because he will see everything with the built-in camera.

Advertising

Google itself announced that it does not plan to advertise anything through Glass, but smart glasses can dramatically change the way people interact with brands and businesses. For example, Glass can tell a person that the store he just went through has a sale today, or recommend a cheesecake for him when he drinks coffee at Starbucks.



Google has a huge amount of data thanks to its products like Gmail, YouTube, Google+ and, of course, search. Advertising on the Google Glass platform can be extremely personalized, so it’s not surprising that advertisers are eagerly awaiting the spread of technology.

Other examples can be found in this great Business Insider post .

We are in Russia, what to do?

As always, all technologies reach our country a little late. In Russia, there are currently very few developers who have access to the Glass prototype and SDK for creating applications, while American companies are engaged in prototyping with might and main.



This is an objective problem that immediately puts domestic companies in unequal conditions with foreign competitors, who, having tested their applications on home markets, will be able to transfer these business models to Russia and succeed here.

In order not to be in the role of a passenger who is running after an outgoing steam engine, hoping to jump there at the last moment when Google Glass becomes a mass product, companies should already experiment and try to understand future scenarios for using technology in their industries. When smart glasses finally enter the lives of millions of people, knowledge and the ability to work with this technology will not only protect the business, but also strengthen their competitive advantages, and maybe even get new ones, reaching a new level of development.

If your company has an understanding that moving towards Glass is necessary and promising, the first step may be to participate in a practical laboratoryFABERNOVEL, created to immerse yourself in the subject of smart glasses and wearable gadgets, get to know technology and create effective scenarios for using technology together with our experts ...

This is, in many ways, a unique offer, so if you are interested, write to us.

But…

Like any new breakthrough technology, Google Glass is faced with many challenges that must be addressed before everything that we wrote above finally becomes a reality. First of all, it is necessary to solve some technical problems such as battery life, reduce the cost of the device - at the moment, the price is still slightly higher than what most users can afford.
Of course, there are other problems, for example:

• Not everyone likes the design of glasses, and you should also work in this direction (by the way, Google has already agreed with Ray-Ban on the creation of frames and distribution)
• Confidentiality is an important point that needs to be somehow solved. There are many concerns now that using glasses can damage people's privacy. In some places, Glass has already been banned, as, for example, in Seattle.
• Debugging APIs and third-party interactions. Google will have to spend a lot of effort building interfaces that will help third-party companies provide services to their customers using wearable Glass technology.
• A small selection of applications. This is a given - there are currently very few applications for smart glasses. Glass can truly reach its potential only when eyewear applications meet customer needs and exceed their expectations compared to other products.

All this is true, but once the iPhone didn’t look as cool as it is now, and in the app stores there were not hundreds of thousands of epps for all occasions - from shooting angry birds to the counter of contractions during pregnancy.

Google is working hard on the development of its revolutionary project - the company holds hackathons for developers, invites designers to collaborate and works to expand the functionality of points. If Glass was promoted by any other company in the world, it could still be said that there is less chance of success than failure. But we are dealing with Google, whose products have already killed many businesses, and this cannot be ignored. So companies that are in the “Glass Risk Zone" need to act now.

The train is already leaving the station.