With excitement mounting over the seemingly imminent release of the Google Glass Explorer editions to pre-registered parties from last years Google IO and the winners of the #IfIHadGlass competition that was recently run. Details are now beginning to emerge on the manufacturing side of things for Google Glass.
According to a report in the Financial times Google Glass will be manufactured in Santa Clara by Hon Hai Precision, more popularly known as Foxconn. According to sources the devices will be assembled in the US from parts manufactured overseas – most likely in Asia – so that final quality control and last minute tweaks to the manufacturing process can be done almost instantly.
The process of manufacturing does increase the cost of the device, with early adopters paying $1500 to get their hands on the device. Google most recently attempted to manufacture the Nexus Q in the US, that product was eventually discontinued after most reviews found the device to be excellent quality but well over-priced for the features it actually provided.
It would be beneficial for Google to do its first run of manufacture in the US to streamline their manufacturing processes, however if they really wish for Glass to become a mainstream consumer product they will definitely need to look elsewhere for the main production run. As Foxconn is running the US side of the manufacturing process initially it would only seem to make good sense to have them continue more mass production at their factories in China.
Does a US manufactured product mean anything more to you?
A Stars and Stripes themed pair would look impressive.
= more Expensive and will disappear in 6 months. just like the NexusQ
As long as they’re around long enough for me to buy a pair, I don’t care what happens to them after that. But personally I think there’s enough interest in Glass from the mainstream public that they actually be a success.
Pretty much this. Also Daniel, how do you manage to afford all these gadgets every month or so? Jealous!
Daniel, the problem with the nexusQ wasnt that people didnt want one. The problem is it did very little and cost way too much. What every one expected it to do was google TV+ media streaming and the lot.