The
prescription version of the first google glass was produced in year 2012 with
estimated price of US1500 - the breakthrough about wearable technology, it
really hit the eyeballs from people all over the world! However, the launch of
google glass has been the subject of much controversy on its infringement of
personal privacy, betrayal of secrets, tool as committing a crime, high
production cost, product safety and so on.
The most suspicious view from the public is whether there is a must to hang the mobile phone on the tiny screen on the right hand side of your glass? Thomke and Reinertsen (2012) mentioned that R&D teams easily fall into fallacy “the more features we put into a product, the more customers will like it” and the case of Google glass may indicate that team is tempted to show off by producing brilliant technical solution that amaze their peers and management, however, not directly address the public need.
Google Glass sucks
Holistic Analysis on Business Environment for Google
Supplier Bargaining Power: Weak
Since Google continues leading role in the internet search engine in the world, and suppliers are different from different sectors, so the supplier’s bargaining power is weak. However, there would be potential threat of forward integration of various suppliers which would raise the bargaining power of suppliers existing in the market.
Buyer Bargaining Power: Strong
Buyers classified as the people/organizations that are using Google various services since its existence till now. There are numerous other search engines and companies that compete with Google in the many fields that Google has developed. The means of Google’s revenue are advertising and Google phones which lead Google to affect profit as well as the Google’s bottom line. Therefore, the more competitive in these markets and the stronger bargaining power of buyers.
Threat of New Entrants: moderate
No perfect search engine exists till yet, tally to little IP involved, little regulation, low fixed and switching cost in this growing market, thus, a new entrant will enter the market at any time and will wipe the previous search engines like Google did.
Threat of substitutes: weak
Google is the best and the most popular Search Engine available in the World Wide Web, yet, there are several substitutes e.g. Bing, Yahoo, Ask, AOL search, WOW, MyWebSearch for Google. Luckily, Google has numerous other services available e.g. smartphones, Google adwords, Google Adsense, Google Drive, Google Plus and plenty of others. Users do like to use this tool as it’s the most convenient tool and this could be the reason why no one wants to change their Search Engine.
Industry Rivalry: Moderate
Rules/ethic have not been defined so the environment is easily exploited or manipulated which would be negative for Google. Large industries allow different firms to prosper without having to shrink market share from each other, therefore, large industry size is a positive for Google. When exit barriers are low, weak firms are more likely to leave the market, which would enhance the profits for the remaining firms, hence, low exit barriers are a positive for Google.
The most powerful search engine - Google search?
With the mission of organizing the world’s information and making it globally accessible and useful, Google provides the platform for people to manage their data everywhere. Not mentioned their world biggest and most-used search engine that handle over ten thousand billion requests everyday. The Google search interface with more than 130 languages which eliminate the languages barriers for people to access the information worldwide. Also, the translation tools provided further enhancement in the accessibility.
Google breaks the world border in virtual fashion
Align with the increasing needs from globalization, people request for information access anywhere and anytime with any devices. Being one of the technology innovative leader, Google dedicates their efforts in developing the mobile service so that people can manage their tasks with their phones all over the world, such as checking emails from Gmail, watching video from YouTube, access any location and plan the route with Google map and even get any stored data from Google drive. Google enhanced the user experience and increased the data mobility along with their technology innovations and deliver such handiness experience to their users.
Awesome innovation - Google Glass
Google glass was originally designed for offering the ubiquitous computer and giving an ultimate experience for the world. The glass was innovated to display information in hand-free smartphone format which can function for photo and video taking, phone calling, messages writing and even for Google map searching etc. The purpose of the glass is to free your hand from holding a phone so that you can keep enjoying the things you are doing, such as you can keep playing golf while the glass can help you to take photos by just commanding it.
Why Google Glass?
Sergey Brin is giving a heads-up to the world by telling why himself and his team at google want to build an eye-mounted camera/computer, codenamed glass, and he wants to call for a new way of seeing the relationship with mobile computers in the video.
Ongoing innovation journey
From the innovative perspectives, Google is definitely the global early adopter for engaging the innovative technology in developing the Google glass. Though they are pausing their further action in both developing and selling the glass, still, they have never stop their innovation journey and certainly will present the upgraded version of the glass in the near future.
Google to Conquer!
As analyzed above, buyers’ bargaining power is extremely strong in the high-tech industry accompanying by the moderate threat of new entrants and industry rivalry. In order to prosper in such a highly competitive market, it is essential for individual industry member to identify their key success factors, i.e. specific product attributes, competitive capabilities, specific intangible assets and necessary resources and competencies, to craft their business strategies and position their companies accordingly.
The Ultimate Weapon… The Unreachable Goal!
Analyst attributes the success of Google to the leadership of its management, its commitment to innovation, adequate development strategies and successful marketing plans (Buck, 2011). Since business plans and marketing strategies can be easily imitated by its competitors, technological innovation is the key to success in the highly-competitive high-tech industry where Google differentiate itself with one of its philosophy – “Great just isn’t good enough”. Google sets unreachable goal for its employees so as to encourage imagination and innovation. As competition in the high-tech industry is cutthroat, company will be eliminated easily if they do not put efforts in technological innovation.
What’s Hot?
Big data management has become a hot topic recently as analysts believe that successful management and analysis of the data collected can bring business opportunities and success. As a leading player of the high-tech industry, Google prides itself for being market-oriented and forecasting the market needs accurately – “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” is the mission of Google.We Lead or We Are Led?
Technology advancement impacts our daily lives in all aspects – the smartphones we use, the electric cars we drive and the cloud storage technology we use today are changing the way we live.
“Focus on the user and all else will follow” is the number one philosophy of Google. Technology impacts the way we live; whilst at the same time, people impacts technology as people determines where the future technology will be going as the ultimate goal of technology development is all about people – to bring people a better life. Other than its core business – search engine, Google has been actively engaging in the development of various tools, such as Google drive, Google document, Google+, Google phone, Google glass and more. All these products are developed according to the needs of people and improved per the comments from users.
Wearable device: next indispensable item!
In 1961, MIT mathematics professor Edward Thorp developed the world 1st wearable computing device From this first step, people keep a moderate pace to create new excitement in area over the decades.
(Online Source:http://mashable.com/2014/05/13/wearable-technology-history/)
 |
| (Source: www.statista.com) |
An interesting analysis was found, Dawson (2014) stated that "Google is adding value to the smartphone experience through peripheral devices - smartphone-out approach - i.e. extending smartphone functionality out to wearables, and Apple's rumored approach as wearables-in - i.e. using wearable to add functionality to the smartphone.
(Online source: https://techpinions.com/apple-destroyer-of-fragmentation/28899)
In terms of their new product launch strategy, also ran in opposite way. With similar brand reputation and awareness, Apple can always catch the the best time to launch its new product. They might not the trend setter, but it is the best trend catcher and winner! iPhone is one of the good examples. Apple Watch is following the same footprints as the first step for Apple to join this wearable device party. The world is keep watching how Apple shows off their intangible power again. With strong soft and hard capability support, a new innovative device - google glass might become one of the most important breakthrough items developed in google history. However, google glass project SEEMS lead Google to walk through a rough road in this platform.
Creativity or innovation is essential to determine Google’s success. In view of google glass product development concept: people can see, connect and record their daily lives not through your mobile screen or camera screen. Personal moment and your eye is directly connected. People can enjoy the “moment”! The concept and glass feature itself is brilliant but the market response was in opposite way. The forecast of wearable technology is accurate but Google has not put the product to the right marketing track.
This is not my cup of tea!
Originally, google glass were only provided to the people who joined google explorer program, purposed to collect usage opinions for further product adjustment. However, google’s top management: Sergey Brin decided to open this beta version purchase to all US people. A flash of excitement was created in the market because of its innovation and brand reputation. Many people felt disappointed after using it for few weeks or even few days because of the bad user experience. Wrong market strategy included: launch a non-readiness product to the mass market, overestimated market demand (wrong primary target audience was set), big gap between consumer perceived and actual value (high retail price, design, usability) (Merton, 2013). Lack of connectivity of human’s daily lives is the vital misperception seen by Google. No doubt that Google has successfully found out differentiation among its competitors but, it went to the market in the wrong time and wrong way.
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| Google Glass developer are jumping ship. with half of the eyewear's success resting on developers, could Google's vision of the future be destined for an early death? (Photo: Ted Eytan) (Online source: www.techtimes.com) |
End of the story OR can’t live without it?
Many people counted Google glass project is failure. Our team will see it in different ways. Though the Google glass project was officially terminated, we can see that wearable technology development is still on its fast pace. Google has proved its creativity and foresight of wearable technology and computing devices. Differentiation has also been made among industry’s players and such competitive advantage is not easily to be replaced in a short period of time and investment. And, in the other way to see the whole case, it “successfully” obtained massive media exposure around the world. Together with Google’s own brand reputation and they have owned a number of IPs (intelligence property), if top management changes their mentality and handle this product in a more pragmatic approach, it would turn the crisis around to become another opportunity (Sharman, 2015).
How to bring it to the workplace is the key to Google to think of. With existing technology and features, Google may push their focus to develop a niche and professional market such as medical, aviation or even militarily usage...etc. Nevertheless, whoever the target audience is, well planned marketing strategy is a must to create positive user satisfaction. Right product position may even push the product to a high market value. Wide-ranging usability and engagement in workplace and consumers’ daily lives would be the next issue to be solved (Domanico, 2014).
Conclusion
Sucked Google Glass might save your life in one day
Google called a “pause” on the sale of the Google glass in early January of 2015, as Google also realized the ambiguous positioning of the Google glass in the market, instead Google could change the whole R & D procedure and product line from the Google X lab to another department in charged by Tony Fadell who was the inventor of iPod in order to seek for breakthrough on the glass before moving ahead with aggressive strategy, trying to “reset” previous defaulted image of glass of the public, pave better ground for moving on with growth strategies.
"Less is more" and "less but better" work because our brains prefer simple
Solving a problem more efficiently is innovation. The goal of any technology product, whether it would be tangible hardware or intangible software, should be to make something easier as complexity is your enemy.
Google glass might be trapped into fantasy about all the things we think we need to do to build a product but often it's the removal of things that make a product great.
Google Glass should adopt “focused differentiation” strategy
Google glass would adopt focused differentiation
strategy to offer unique features that fulfill the
demands of a narrow market that
Google would develop tremendous expertise about the Google glass and associated services that they
offer which rivals and new entrants may find it difficult to compete with Google
following a focus strategy.
Google glass reform the diagnosis procedure in hospital:
Positive comments on applying Google glass in the Hospital, Google glass would save doctor’s time to get patient’s anamnesis by scanning QR code which can spare doctor’s hands to have urgent surgery for patient instantaneously.
Fire fighter can work faster, safer, smarter with Google glass:
Google glass would provide instant information e.g. floor plan of premise, the location of fire hydrants in the district, roadmap from the fire station to concerned site during urgent situation. Glass would transmit the instant recorded video in the premise to fire control station for investigation and analysis in the computer without wasting time to address accurate information in ample data list.
Idea for Google Glass:
Design you home through Google Glass
However, Google should consider the limited demand available within a niche can cause problems. First, Google could find its growth ambitions stymied. Once its target market is being well served/saturated, expansion to other markets might be the only way to expand, and this often requires developing a new set of skills/features. Also, the niche could disappear or be taken over by other upcoming competitors.
Google should capitalize their competitive advantages and constantly review and monitor their corporate strategic planning in order to keep abrest of with fast changing technological world.
Google should capitalize their competitive advantages and constantly review and monitor their corporate strategic planning in order to keep abrest of with fast changing technological world.
Reference
- Arce, N. (2014, Nov 16). Glass May Die Early Death with Early Adopter Losing Interest. Tech Times. Retrieved from http://www.techtimes.com/articles/20284/20141116/google-glass-may-die-early-death-with-early-adopters-losing-interest.htm
- Buck, E.W. (2011). The 5 Key Success Factors: A Powerful System For Total Business Success [Abstract]. Retrieved from http://totalsuccesscenter.com/business-success/key-success-factors/
- Dawson, J. (2014, Mar 28). Apple: destroyer of fragmentation. Tech pinions. Retrieved from https://techpinions.com/apple-destroyer-of-fragmentation/28899
- Domanico, A. (2014, May 6). We asked early adopter: Why did you buy Google Glass?. TechHive. Retrieved from http://www.techhive.com/article/2151386/whos-buying-google-glass-and-why.html
- Google Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/
- Hinch, W. (2015, Jan 25). Where did it all go wrong for Google Glass? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2015/01/where-did-it-go-wrong-for-google-glass/
- Knoblauch, M. (2014, May 13). The History of Wearable Tech, From the Casino to the Consumer. Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2014/05/13/wearable-technology-history/
- Merton, R. (2013, Apr). Innovation Risk: How to Make Smarter Decisions. Harvard Business Review , 48-56. Harvard Business Publishing.
- Norris, A. (2014, Dec 27). Wearable technology: 2015 is the year of smart bra. The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/predictions/technology/11306735/wearable-technology-trend.html
- Paulson, M. (2014, May 30). A Brief History of Wearable. Wearable Tech World. Retrieved from http://www.wearabletechworld.com/topics/wearable-tech/articles/380055-brief-history-wearables.htm
- Reisinger, D. (2014, Apr 16). 10 Reasons It’s a Bad Idea to Be a Google Glass Early Adopter. eWeek. Retrieved from http://www.eweek.com/mobile/slideshows/10-reasons-its-a-bad-idea-to-be-a-google-glass-early-adopter.html
- Sharman, E. (2015, Jan 19). 5 Reasons Why Google Glass’ “Failure” was a “Success”. Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/5-reasons-why-google-s-glass-failure-was-a-success.html
- Thomke, S. and Reinertsen, D. (2012, May). Six Myths of Product Development. Harvard Business Review, 85-94. Harvard Business Publishing
- Wearable device market value from 2010-2018. (2015). Statista [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.statista.com/statistics/259372/wearable-device-market-value/
I really appraite Team 14, they are the most early team to finish and post their article to blogger and revise according to Professor Frank's advice. That's really admirable! I really like this article very much, because In my mind,Google is one of the most innovative company in the world, I even can not image its new products' failure. So this article enrich my knowledge actually, thank you for sharing.
回覆刪除I like google's management philosophy--"Great is not good enough" which pushes Google keeping innovation continually. This spirit matches the feature of this rapidly changing world. But Google's previous huge success causes it is too pround to overestimate its products' market feedback. Even though "focus on some customers and others will follow" is partly right and in fact some products and company got success due to some customers influence mass customers. The whole fact is that " Customers and Products influences each other" In the most success cases, companies and products should follow customers, mass customers' choice determine the company's success.
However, I am looking forward to Google's new innovative products in the future!
Thanks Prominent for your valuable comments!
刪除You are correct that customer and products influences each other, and industry players' ability to identify and forecast customers' needs is one of the key factors to conquer.
As for this "failure" experience of google glass, Google may also learn from what Apple CEO Tim Cook has said recently - The importance of willingness to move on from the approaches which are no longer appropriate:
"Apple has always had the discipline to make the bold decision to walk away. We walked away from the floppy disk when that was popular with many users. Instead of doing things in the more traditional way of diversifying and minimizing risk, we took out the optical drive, which some people loved. We changed our connector, even though many people loved the 30-pin connector. Some of these things were not popular for quite a while. But you have to be willing to lose sight of the shore and go. We still do that."
(http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/18/tim-cook-on-steve-jobs/)
Thanks,
icatcher
Thank you Team iCatcher for providing such insightful analysis! I really admire the speed and quality of your work and how you have chosen such a new and updated topic , we are talking about the termination of sales of Google Glasses which just happened early this year and you have also brought in the story of Apple Watch which was just released less than a week ago! Very fresh and interesting! Great job!
回覆刪除Reading your blog has given me a new perspective about where technology is heading --> the wearables! I agree with you that although the Google Glass project is terminated, it has not completely failed. Putting in your words, I agree that 'The forecast of wearable technology is accurate but Google has not put the product to the right marketing track.' I believe the wearable technology is the future, perhaps Google just needs to work more on its Glass design, and developing functions that are more practical, user friendly and caters to consumers' needs. A new product (also a wearable device) that is worth mentioning is the HoloLens from Microsoft. This product was announced shortly after Google glass project was terminated (not sure if intentionally done or not!), but this product is very similar to Google glass, yet has a different concept (the hologram) and many are saying it will be more successful than Google glass. https://hbr.org/2015/01/what-hololens-has-that-google-glass-didnt
Hi Silently Strong,
刪除Thank you for sharing!
Technology is the fact and wearable tech is the future.
We have just found another article worth reading - "The Health Concerns in Wearable Tech" published on The New York Times by Nick Bilton yesterday (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/style/could-wearable-computers-be-as-harmful-as-cigarettes.html?_r=0). We have long suspected that the radiation emitted from cellphones can possibly lead to brain tumours or cancer. Will wearable techs such as google glass and apple watch cause health problem as it is attached to human body all day long?
icatcher
This is a good article that analyses such a great topic particularly.
回覆刪除Personally, I agree that google glass inspires the market as a new application of wearable device. However, it was not widely used and expected just for the following reasons.
Firstly, the price is too high to satisfy the common people. Google glass is born to be "luxury" product, so few people can enjoy that expensive products. Privacy is a hidden problem of unequal access to the information. People who own the glasses seem to be more easily to gain information of other people.
Secondly, Google did not make an accurate position for google glass. At the beginning, it was set as a product of consumer level, while it become popular in the niche market. Now, google glass has demonstrated its bright future in the professional field, such as medical and security fields. I think Google can begin to promote google glass in the specific market, then transit to the civilian market. That may be a good recipe.
hopeful_chocolate,
刪除Thanks for your support to our recommendation, the product of Google Glass just like the case of " when cars first came out and affected the business of horse rides", "when smart phone first came out and also affected the business of traditional phone", it takes time to fine tune the features and functions on Google Glass and please the need of the mass market.
Thanks,
Icatcher
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回覆刪除此留言已被作者移除。
刪除Buddy, should not use your real name and you should show your student ID no. for Frank to identify you.
回覆刪除Thanks for the valuable comments!
回覆刪除Google glass x YSL
We would also like to share an interesting alliance of google glass with a high-end fashion and cosmetic brand YSL. http://www.style.com/beauty/makeup/2014/yves-saint-laurent-google-glass This crossover did bring Google glass to the masses through feminine-dominated industry - cosmetics. Stylish product image of google glass still ON in the market.
Echoing the previous comments to this blog that you have chosen an interesting and current topic.
回覆刪除Google's idea for Google Glass to be just a "Beta" for selected users was the right one to start with. Most of the Google products have started as Beta (e.g. Gmail). The Beta tag has been used by Google in a very ingenious way. First it was used to give access to a selected group of users who were ready to provide valuable feedback to the product for the opportunity to use this product early. Their valuable feedback was then used to improve the product and then access was extended to further user groups. These loop was then run through again and again allowing Google to gradually improve their products, test the users response under the "protection" of the Beta tag. The Beta tag also gave the impression to the users that it is still not a finished product that is evolving an improving. This has worked for Google very well at least for the software/service side of their business.
Google's CEO decided to follow the same path with Google Glass initially, but then changed its mind. It failed as the product was not ready for a mass market. Google itself was also straggling to find the right way to position and sell Google Glass.
It would be interesting to know what were the reason that made Sergey Brin decide to change the approach for Google Glass. What was he expecting to achieve by changing the strategy? Did he want to capture some hype for Google and Google Glass and be in the news? Was he really convinced that Google Glass was ready to be release to the market? We don't have answers to these questions (yet), but maybe in a not so distant future.
Dear Team 14,
回覆刪除It’s so nice to read your blog on google glass and watch all the related videos, especially the one recording how google glass can mess up one’s life.
In your conclusion, you mentioned the ambiguous positioning of the Google glass in the market, and suggest Google change R & D procedure and product line to “reset” previous defaulted image of glass of the public. I quite agree with this conclusion, as well as your suggestion that Google Glass should go adopt “focused differentiation” strategy, making it a premium product in specialized areas, such as for doctors, fire fighters, even police investors. From functionality point of view, google glass can be much more useful for these people to make their work easier and more accurate.
However, if Google glass wants to target the same group of consumers who may buy Apple Watch, it will be really difficult. I would like to bring up reasons that why I think it will be difficult. First is Google glass’s price point. Since google glass is still in its development journey, wishing to make it better through front line consumer, who would like to spend 1500 to help the company to fix up its software and improve user interface. Second will be privacy issue. People are very sensitive to their privacy, especially Asian consumers. Therefore, when consumer wear a google glass, they are inclined to be more careful upon their performance which psychologically make them reluctant to accept the product. Finally, the last point I would say Google Glass is simply not cool enough...
Dear Team 14,
回覆刪除Fantastic case study about Google! I will share your story with those technique fans if you do not mind!
I just have one question in five forces analysis. Buyer Bargaining Power is not strong in my opinion. For the wearable equipment which you are talking about, there are just two or three companies producing and promoting them. Customers have limited options to choose. Besides, switching cost for the consumers is high, since if they get used to using google products, such as google drive, google blogger which we are using or google doc, it is not easy for them to change. For two reasons, first is that consumers are lazy. The second reason is that google make really products for consumers to use. Thus, I think that buyer power is not that strong. Maybe for me, I will assess that as moderate.
I have one suggestion for you, Mentioning Apple to make comparison is smart. Bench marking is good in this situation since two companies have similar background, reputation and innovation process. In fact, you can go deeper to make more comparison. Such as, Apple does more customers' research or it pays more attention to users' experience than Google does.
How I wish that Google glass can be sold in the near future. I am eager to try one since I think it is really cool!
Hello iCatchers!
回覆刪除First of all, a very good summary outlining Google's history, products, competitiveness, and milestones. I enjoy reading the holistic analysis section which I think the overall analysis is fair. However, I would rate the threat of new entrants to be “strong” because when you look at Yahoo and Baidu, they are growing fast in the market. In addition, Google services are banned from some of the countries in the world such as China and Russia, decreasing the number of global users.
Regarding the Google Glasses, it would be more fruitful in analyzing this case with more customer opinions or perspectives that lead to the failure of this product in the market. In my perspective, the product itself is unfairly expensive and does not sound as innovative as described. This is a niche market because it targets customers who take pictures instantly to capture the moment. If anyone does not fall into that group of people, I believe they would rather spend the money on better quality digital cameras or cellphones. In addition, there is a similar product in the market already named “Go-Pro” which is a waterproof digital camera. It does the same job and even better but without the glass function. This product is way cheaper than the Google Glass and there are more ways to play around with it by purchasing different accessories.
I agree with your standpoint that Google Glass might be a life changing product one day, but with the features it is equipped with the possibility to achieve that goal at this moment is low.
Thanks for your team’s fabulous sharing.
回覆刪除Recently, I am reading the book written by ex-CEO Eric Schmidt and former SVP of Products Jonathan Rosenberg. I was impressed by the “smart creatives” concept from Google. “Power has shifted from companies to consumers, and expectations have never been higher. Companies can’t get away with having crummy products, at least not for long. For example, bad product reviews trump clever marketing. Today, great products win.” Apparently, Googlers created such an amazing Google glass.
I totally agree with “focused differentiation” strategy. Besides above mentioned application in the diagnosis procedure in hospital, I would like to add more insights in the healthcare sector. Health care is moving from a focus on addressing point-in-time issues toward coordinated, continuous health management. Based on this trend, increasing investment focus shifted from providers of electronic-health-records solutions to developers of consumer-oriented applications. “Google glass is the most-high-profile wearable being tested for numerous healthcare applications-for example, emergency-medicine physicians are getting specialist consults by transmitting video or image taken by glass. Meanwhile, beyond Google, Intel acquired BASIS Science and Proteus raised $183.4 million to develop its line of sensor-based products. It can be predicted that the future competition in healthcare sector is much fierce as both pharmaceutical companies and high-tech giants are involved into the game.” (Digest from Mckinsey report) I do believe Google will not give up the further investment in Google glass as it deserves.
Dear team iCatcher, I enjoyed a lot reading your article and watching all of the videos you guys uploaded. What you have done was an excellent job.
回覆刪除Google glass once be one of my must buy in my lifetime as it is very cool like one of those American sci-fi blockbusters coming into reality. But it is the reality that the product faced a lot of rejections and compliances. Personally I think there are several reasons:
1st, it is indeed too high tech for the ordinary people of their normal life. It is like a personal 24-hour recording camera that one can not shake away which left the owner narrow space for privacy.
2nd, it requires more improvement and perfect job. Technology is not human brain it can only response to the individual orders that the system(human brain) has set. And the information changes too quick nowadays the gap time of updating the new information onto the glass's system is also a big issue that need to be solve.
But I would say I will not see the glass as a failure at all. It is a very fantastic hi-tech product which stepped forward to compare with the usual products in the market. I do have faith that the fashion will catch up eventually.
Thanks iCatcher for your interesting sharing. Very impressive product. I really love the innovation of Google Glass. But as a customer, I don't really want to own one. Not because of the technology but the design. I think the direct reason that led the failure of Google Glass is positioning.Glasses, to a great extent,belongs to the goods of health,safety and mentality,rather than FMCG(Fast Moving Consumer Goods). Why do people wear glasses? Mostly because they cannot see things clearly.Not everyone likes to wear glasses. According to the second video, wearing Google Glass may cause some troubles, It may make one day harder instead of easier.
回覆刪除If the design for information display gets improved and be more fashionable, Google Glass could be a success in the future.
Team iCather has done a good job and I highly appreciate your high quality work. My comments are below:
回覆刪除1. Google glass is a powerful innovation although it is not as (commercial/ marketing) successful as expected. But for product itself, I feel nothing wrong with it. At least it’s a pioneering work and maybe its just a beginning and will lead Google to have more similar product refinement, or more copycat in the market;
2. Because it is high-tech, when making product strategy, the potential market and target groups should be well emphasized. It should be in highly focused differentiation because it is not designed for all the general people. Thus, the Buyer Bargaining Power should be weak, not strong.
3. Personally I find Google glass familiar as the similar products have already shown in some movies or comic books.
For example, in Dragon Ball:
http://img6.aili.com/201307/02/1372756923_22117500.jpg
http://static.ettoday.net/images/699/d699116.jpg
http://cdn0.techbang.com.tw/system/images/174344/medium/d3e2220e84dfeba72ff3791a4da5456e.gif?1407850203
And Ironman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VrHeInDwwg
4. Google glass, I suggest, is only for well-trained people. People who are not trained cannot be able to master, or use it properly and smartly. Innovative product is made for convenience, but not trouble-making. The common people actually don’t know how to make the best use of google glass.
5. The limitations of design: 5.1. For those having optical problems, like short sighted, are not suitable to use it. 5.2. As mentioned in blog, how is the heat-resistant if it’s for fire fighter? 5.3. Privacy matter. How to prevent users not using it to take photos or videos in public? 5.4. Will it be a weapon in war? A country with more capital can buy it for its soldiers, but another country with less capital can only be a loser in war as its army doesn't have this high tech equipment.
6. About the content of the blog which mainly focuses on Google glass. I think it would be better if there is an introduction of Google, with its innovative products from the past, highlighting Google as an early adopter as always. And I wish to see the correlation between globalization and Google, as Google is a giant in technology sector. It will be cooler if your team can talk more about: Google, as a giant, how can it face its failure, learn from it, and do any improvement work?
Team iCather has done a good job and I highly appreciate your high quality work. My comments are below:
回覆刪除1. Google glass is a powerful innovation although it is not as (commercial/ marketing) successful as expected. But for product itself, I feel nothing wrong with it. At least it’s a pioneering work and maybe its just a beginning and will lead Google to have more similar product refinement, or more copycat in the market;
2. Because it is high-tech, when making product strategy, the potential market and target groups should be well emphasized. It should be in highly focused differentiation because it is not designed for all the general people. Thus, the Buyer Bargaining Power should be weak, not strong.
3. Personally I find Google glass familiar as the similar products have already shown in some movies or comic books.
For example, in Dragon Ball:
http://img6.aili.com/201307/02/1372756923_22117500.jpg
http://static.ettoday.net/images/699/d699116.jpg
http://cdn0.techbang.com.tw/system/images/174344/medium/d3e2220e84dfeba72ff3791a4da5456e.gif?1407850203
And Ironman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VrHeInDwwg
4. Google glass, I suggest, is only for well-trained people. People who are not trained cannot be able to master, or use it properly and smartly. Innovative product is made for convenience, but not trouble-making. The common people actually don’t know how to make the best use of google glass.
5. The limitations of design: 5.1. For those having optical problems, like short sighted, are not suitable to use it. 5.2. As mentioned in blog, how is the heat-resistant if it’s for fire fighter? 5.3. Privacy matter. How to prevent users not using it to take photos or videos in public? 5.4. Will it be a weapon in war? A country with more capital can buy it for its soldiers, but another country with less capital can only be a loser in war as its army doesn't have this high tech equipment.
6. About the content of the blog which mainly focuses on Google glass. I think it would be better if there is an introduction of Google, with its innovative products from the past, highlighting Google as an early adopter as always. And I wish to see the correlation between globalization and Google, as Google is a giant in technology sector. It will be cooler if your team can talk more about: Google, as a giant, how can it face its failure, learn from it, and do any improvement work?
Hi beauties,
回覆刪除When I open your blog link, wow, I was impressed by the well decorated background and the elegant design of the essay. You guys have made a close study on this topic and the analysis enables me to have a better understanding of Google and its innovation strategy. In fact, in my opinion, at the beginning, Google glass was a high-tech product which draws the world's attention to the company and enhances the first position of Google. Before the idea of the Google glass, I believe, the company didn't focus on the consumers of such a high-tech product and the usage of the glass, which lead to the current failure situation. However, it is really hard to tell whether the innovation is a success or failure in a shot term. Meanwhile, an innovation success doesn't only focus on the profit. Sometimes, an innovative product will gradually change the way people used to live. From this aspect, maybe in the near future, Google glass and the company will be viewed as a huge success.
Great job iCatcher! You really have successfully caught our eyes! I believe the previous commenters have already expressed how well you have done, so please allowed me to save mine.
回覆刪除Let me share a news first. Boss of Google X (A division of Google that work on projects that might not have a market NOW but could eventually be very influential), Mr. Astro Teller, recently spoke about the Google Glass and how the company overhyped the product when it really should have downplayed the product, as it is just a work-in-progress.
Teller clearly thinks that in marketing the program, Google made a mistake. Google never intended to bring Google Glass to the mass market, but the company marketed it like a finished product, even eventually allowing people from the general public to buy Google Glass for $1,500. Through the program, Google mostly wanted to learn about social norms and what they would and wouldn't be with the use of Google Glass.
Looper.C.D. (18 March 2015). TECH TIMES. Google X Boss Says Google 'Encouraged Too Much Attention For Google Glass'. Retrieved from
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/40467/20150318/google-x-boss-encouraged-much-attention-glass.htm
This reminds me that any kind of innovations should be closely tied to the market and customer needs, as innovations are for use of making people’s lives better. I am not saying Google Glass isn’t good for people, and there is no wonder that Google Glass is fancy, just that Google should not have been too aggressive to launch it at this stage, with an unfinished product before the market and people are ready.
I think the move to call a pause on sales this year is correct. It allows Google to rethink about the development direction and strategy for Google Glass, as well as the company. Maybe it would be good to market it to limited high-tech commentators and get some feedbacks first. And I believe, when Google Glass (or in whatever form with a similar concept) is ready, it will definitely amazed the world.
Google Glass Is dead but it paves the way for the succesors. This case give me one big lesson which is even if you are on the right track you would still possibly suffer from periodical failure since the immature timing which can be that consumers have not been well-educated by producers so that they do not have strong need to buy or the functions of the innovative gadget are not very useful currently.When the more people out there who are wearing these things, the more normal it will seem. Indeed, even regular glasses, which have been around in various forms for over 700 years, didn’t become fashionable until the last century. So the process changing from innovation to widely-used product takes time.
回覆刪除Thus, if I have enough money and ready access to invest, I would choose Google Glass or some other smart glasses to put my money in. Though it remains awkward, Glass is already miles from where it was in 2011, when it was like a scuba mask with a phone and cables attached to it. We can see it is progressing. Before the product becomes popular, now it is the time to join the game.
"Icatcher" really catches my eyes this time ! For that the special cool team name and the fresh image of your blog! Before watching your blog, I was curious about the so-called Google Glass actually works or not. But I did not pay more attention about the advertisement on some website or any information shared by other tunnel. So it's a good vision for me to get a full view of this product.Thanks you guys' effort on it.
回覆刪除As to the knowledge about this product, I feel interested about it's influences on people's daily life. Though it's a pause now and We cant see any changes in the current technology aspects, I believe that it will be advanced in the future not far away and presented in another way ( may be a mirror or and other carriers) that are trying to make our lives more convenient and efficient cuz we all knows that life is short!
Last but not the least, I think your blog give us an idea that any innovative product should be "user friendly" . At the end, pratical is all we are pursuing about in terms of any technology innovation right? Practice makes perfect.
I enjoyed reading this article a lot. When I first heard about Google Glass before it was introduced to the US market, I was really curious whether it would actually be successful. Unfortunately, I lost track and never heard anything about it after that (Probably because it was only promoted in the US). Therefore, I am glad to have read this informative article about how Google Glass actually failed in the end. I think the five forces analysis is very profound. However, I cannot seem to agree with some of the suggestions towards to end, such as fire fighters using Google glass, as their job requires them to do a lot of quick decisions using their grasp of the situation.
回覆刪除Copy here a comment wrongly posted in our old post (by 95063764 ).
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95063764 2015年3月20日 上午6:15
Google Glasses is a awesome designed glasses. Google is the most popular internet search engine around the world. The Google Glasses has integrated with Google search engine that the users like to use this tool as it's the most convenient tool.
Thank you for your help : )
刪除Google Glass is an awesome designed glasses. I like to use Google everyday since Google is the most popular search enginer around the world. It is very powerful to has the Google Glass integrated with Google Search Engine. As we think that this is the most convenient tool for the hand free operation.
回覆刪除This Google Glass could not be launched because the public security concerns. I believe this awesome desgin will be modified to different form to turn into reality in foreseeable future.