It’s been a good first run: Google is ending its Glass Explorer program next week.
Although businesses and developers may still be able to get their hands on one, the company will cease public sales of Google Glass on January 19, . The wearable isn’t being abandoned to the public completely though: Glass is simply finishing its run as part of the Google X experimental unit, with Nest CEO Tony Fadell now chief-in-command for the program. Google acquired Nest last year.
That said, Nest’s engineers aren’t taking over the product’s development. Instead, it’s being upgraded to its own entity within Google. The program will continue to be led by Ivy Ross who, along with the rest of the Glass team, will report to Fadell.
Google considers Glass exiting the X division a move towards wider commercial availability; it will use the information it’s learned over the past couple of years to create the next version of Glass.
Current users will still be able to use their devices and have them covered under warranty, but whether they will continue to receive official software upgrades is unclear. We don’t know when the next version of Glass is coming, but we’ll keep an eye out for what Google cooks up next.
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