The future of Google Glass is getting a little clearer today, with a quote from the CEO of Italian eyewear maker Luxottica, who has described the next version of glass as ‘in preparation’.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Massimo Vian, the CEO of Luxottica has addressed the company’s general meeting in Milan, Italy to advise that the company is involved with the next generation of Glass, and that it will be out soon. According to the Journal, Mr Vian said
In Google, there are some second thoughts on how to interpret version 3 [of the eyewear]. What you saw was version 1. We’re now working on version 2, which is in preparation.
Glass has been at a bit of a loss publicity wise, after Google halted sales on the 19th of January this year. While the initial ‘Explorer Edition’ of Glass was ended, the team has moved ahead, with the team moving out of the Google X Labs which gave birth to the concept and moving into Google proper under the stewardship of Nest CEO Tony Fadell. The team is still overseen by Ivy Rose, but designer Tony Fadell is guiding the next version.
Also of interest is a further comment from Mr Vian, who said that Luxottica would be going ahead with a partnership with Intel. While no specific product was mentioned or whether it was Glass, a product will be released between February and March next year. This possibly could marry up with previous rumours that Intel would power the next version of Glass.
Where Glass goes to from here isn’t known, but with Google I/O coming in 34 days, we could find out more sooner rather than later.
