Marketing E-bits

In The Not So Distant Future…

Later this year, Google headquarters intends to start selling “eyeglasses that will project information, entertainment, and advertisements onto the lenses”. Although the glasses are not designed to be worn constantly, they are similar in concept to smartphones, with the lenses serving as a transparent computer monitor. Apart from the peculiar body behaviour onlookers will witness–people ducking or dodging around intangible things while wearing the virtual glasses–the glasses will use the same Android software and be equipped with GPS, motion sensors, and camera and audio inputs and outputs. With all of these features into place, users could potential be standing in front of a restaurant during lunch time, and receive current promotions about their lunch special.

Aside from GPS location tagging, facial recognition software in the Google glasses poses as a serious privacy issue. Figuratively, a person wearing the Google glasses could meet a person of the opposite sex for the first time, and the facial recognition software would be able to match the person’s face and tell how many friends they share in common on social networks like facebook.

Advertising will also face great changes, as it would now supposedly be possible for companies to “virtually place ads over other people’s ads in real life”. As a laggard in the product adoption cycle–I have yet to transition into a smartphone–I’m not sure when I will be ready to buy my own pair of Google glasses. However, I will be keeping an eye out for the launch of this product, and of its competitors.