SONA COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Department of Management Studies

Date: 23/05/2013

GOOGLE GLASS

Google Inc was found by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were pursuing their PhD in Stanford
University. Google was incorporated on September 4, 1998. Google founders were in the verge to sell its search
engine company to Excite CEO George Bell for $ 1 million to continue their doctoral studies. It was unfortunate
that George declined the offer, later the company was supported by many venture capitalist companies and
Google generated $25 million as the initial investment. After this fund generation Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric
Schmidt (Executive Chairman) agreed to work together till 2024. Google - a software giant has acquired 125
companies to lead in the software industry. Search engine giants didn’t just stop with their website google.com
they moved forward by strengthening their company by innovating products in their lab “Google X”. Till now,
people don’t know where the lab is located and what they do in the lab. It’s expected that it is located somewhere
near Bay Area of North Carolina. Even the team Google X has amazed mobile device makers with Google Nexus
mobile phone. Even they are challenging the automakers with their Driverless concept car research. In the recent
news Google X lab is set to release a new product that is going to change the way we look at the world and that
product is named as “Google Glass”.

Google glass is a product that came into reality with the help of Professor Babak Praviz (Head, Google
glass research). With hard efforts of prototype designer Tom Chi, glass prototype was ready just in a day. Tom Chi
has explained how to do rapid prototyping in TED Youth Conference. Google glass is a head mounted display
augmented reality product that looks similar to our spectacles without lenses. Yet, the glass has a camera and a
small projector to show the display in front of our eye. This innovation may pose a threat for the smart phones
those are available in the market.

Even before the release, the product was welcomed by many people since this device is the smallest head
mounted display device available in the market. Google tested the device among few handpicked customers who

Case prepared by Mr. K. Balachandar, Assistant Professor, Sona College of Technology, Salem
participated in the contest conducted by Google in Twitter platform. Bold, Creative and Tech enthusiast will have
to say what they will do if they have Google glass with them by featuring hashtag #ifihadglass on twitter to get the
developer version of Google glass at USD 1500. There were around 2000 people who were interested to buy this
product even without knowing the delivery date. Only a few people got the product in their hands to discover the
features. Google glass very soon became the talk of the town by April 2012 and it is set to release by Q4 of 2013.
This glass is yet to hit the market but there is mixed comments about it.

Most splendid function of this product is the user will be able to take pictures, videos, text, and share
them on internet instantly. Google glass can take videos at 720p clarity supported by a touch interface on the right
side of the device. Hardware components of Google glass impressed many people since it has Android 4.0.4 and
higher, 5 mega pixel camera, Wi-Fi, Blue tooth, 16 GB Storage, 682 MB RAM, Gyroscope, Accelerometer and
Magnetometer. The device is also supported by software such as Google Maps, Google +, Voice
actions/commands, Gmail, Google Now, and many more other applications.

Some bloggers who used the product have told that the product did not meet their expectations. The
major problem with the product is that it is not able to recognize voice clearly in a crowded area. The data stored
in this device is following a timeline pattern which pose a problem while a user try to retrieve information. The
applications sometimes load updates for every 10 seconds which makes the user irritated at times. Google glass
was banned in pubs, movie theatres and casinos. The Government of West Virginia is seeking a ban on Google
glass to prevent people from texting while driving. Many countries contributed to the pain of Google by saying that
the product may breach privacy and help in stealing private information effortlessly.

Despite all these happenings, Google is all set to release its product by the end of 2013. Marketing
managers are in confusion to set the price for the product. People expect the product to be released at the rate of
USD200, yet grapevine message from Google say the product will be priced at the range of USD500 - USD600.
Marketing managers at Google are worrying about the distribution strategy because one of the C-Level executive
had advised them to follow Apple retail chain format to boost the sales. In his view, the company is now moving
towards producing more products for the customers hence he feels the customers should get products from their
own retail stores. The terms and conditions laid by Google have put the customers in a confused state, since
Google Glass terms of service states, “you may not resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person. If
you resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person without Google’s authorization, Google reserves
the right to deactivate the device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the device will be entitled to
any refund, product support, or product warranty.”

Case prepared by Mr. K. Balachandar, Assistant Professor, Sona College of Technology, Salem