Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Google Glasses

Google Glasses

The digital world of communications that we are now living is not only the making of its creators; it is not without the active connivance of, if initially tentative, acceptance of we, the users. The creators of this digitally contrived world are very good at reading the human race in that, which eventually comes around to accepting and adapting to things that are thrown hard at it (Miller, 2013). This adaptability and flexibility has been taken advantage of very subtly. The first few tentative steps that humans take slowly gain in strength and eventually the distrust gives way to acceptance, and eventually confidence. What naturally follows is a warm hearted embrace and soon addiction results. A full-fledged dependence is only a matter of time, thence. This a stage most well suited for the advertisers and marketers where they move in to make the most of the situation and the morals, the ethics rapidly take a back seat. The consumer is only a mute spectator to the intrusions that the material goods make into his privacy. The wheel, by now has thus moved a whole cycle trampling all ethics and morals in its wake. The latest entrant into this kind of ethical subterfuge is the Glass, a new entrant into the already all-pervasive digital world. The innovator is none other than 'Google'. The consumers are stricken with the usurpation of their privacy, the interactions that they thought they had had in their dealings and also the perception that people have of them. We ought to be antagonized as the technology threatens our very supreme and noble virtues of the ability to innovate and control technology for our betterment rather than technology itself controlling the very way we intend to live. We need to treat this new development as an infringement on our right to be human- creators of technology not as those that are ruled by technology that supersedes human mind.

Glass shares much more private information with its advertisers and the government that it consciously makes an effort to let its user know. This is the most uneasy part of the whole situation. The very thought of revealing your secret intentions to the ones you most want to keep away from is the most disarming (2013).it is only plausible that people don't reflect enough on the possibility that their private information is being shared with the most unlikely institutions. It is this myopia, or worse, addiction with the technology that overshadows their rationale. People just succumb to the enticing strategy that Google employs- the more you share with it, the more it'll be able to give back, making a reliable ecosystem. Google unethical behavior starts at the very moment it asks for information that it itself hardly needs. It is shared with others! The gullible consumers are taken for a ride. That is not to say that Google hasn't done anything useful for us. That would be far from truth. It has. At the same time however, it has extracted much more information for its own narrow ends that was really necessary. As a matter of fact, Google has proved very useful to its users. And at times more often than not, much more that just being useful. That is now creepy. You end up feeling shadowed. Being watched over. However, as Claire Cain Miler, a New York Times author confesses, she did initially feel uneasy with Google following her in all that she did, but she got around it and started feeling comfortable or at times even thankful that Google was 'around' to forewarn her of an impending traffic jam. Amit Singhal a senior functionary of Google Search alludes to this example in this when he says that any technology, if allowed to stay for enough time with an individual, gains the confidence of the person in question and the dependency eventually becomes natural. That is akin to saying that it becomes addictive and Google then makes use of the ensuing myopia to push up its business.

What is Google Glass?

Google glass is a pair of glasses you can wear. They can respond to your verbal commands. They can activate and control photography, videos and use GPS much better than the present Car GPS systems do as of now. To add to these graphic abilities, it can also translate menus to many languages and is voice-interactive with the internet.

Many more innovative applications are being tried out with this device. As an interesting example, Hyundai is already on the track to replace the GPS in its cars using this Glass. Other car manufacturers should soon follow suit (Shedlock, 2014).

Consumer's forecast

It is but natural that some of the niche sectors that are likely to use this device for their own fields are the ones in highly specialized fields like medicine, photography and scientific endeavors. This in turn could lead down to a trickledown effect and as the device undergoes refinements and ease of use, the common man on the street may find more use in his everyday chores. Though, in its nascent stage, Google has already brought out the GDK (Glass Development Kit).the proliferation at the moment that this device may have is anybody's guess as of now (Danova, 2013).

An estimated twenty one million units could be in the hands of consumers by the end of 2018, we at BI believe. The total in monetary terms equates to about over ten billion dollar figure (estimating a unit price of $500). There may be variations to that given the fact that we could see a range in the product to suit different purposes. The methodology followed to arrive at this figure by BI is explained in details in the report published only recently by BI. The predictions are founded on the basic premises that affect sales like the pricing, the aggressiveness of the producer of the device and the cultural acceptance values that the product (Google Glass) may have to address (Danova, 2013)..

Parameters that will affect the sale of Google Glass are briefly:

Price: A very dominant factor will be pace of price reduction to gain a wider sales base. It has been observed already that with the stiff rates persisting, the sales figures have not improved significantly for Google Glass. A measured rate cut will ensure a higher buyer interest. As such, it is expected that over a two-year period the Glass may carry a price tag of $600 down from $1,500 that it carries today.

Cultural Barriers: Wearing glasses is more obvious and suggestive than any other device, like the watch, for example. It is still a matter of speculation if people will get over it quickly enough for Google, that is. The appearance and design may have to be tweaked enough to garner better acceptance amongst the masses. The matter of privacy is also an issue that will have to tackled conscientiously as the outcry for some popular social platforms has begun to appear globally. Thus, an overnight success for Glass is surely not in sight as of now.

Developer Interest:

Developers of apps are being encouraged to write apps for Mirror API even before its official release as it perceives greater acceptability if certain apps are taken up well by the consumers. A case in point is the Instagram or the Angry Birds. The app itself may, it believes, make Google Glass more easily acceptable in the market. The monetary accruals from Glass have not yet been fully opened up by Google. It maybe, is waiting for the acceptability of the device itself. Once that happens, it's only a matter of time before the advertisers and marketers turn it into a money spinner (Danova, 2013).

Potential clients of Glass

Some the industry sectors that have already embarked on using the new device to make changes in their own services are now discussed:

Healthcare:

Surgeons across the globe have found Glass to ease their complicated procedures, by being able to coordinate more meaningfully (Solar News, 2013). Technical giants like Philips and Accenture have joined hands to make monitoring and surveillance activities easier for the surgeons even as the surgeries are on (Terry, 2013). Farlo has also contributed to the cause of readiness procedures required for an incoming emergency patient by enabling the doctors to obtain live streaming of the patients' condition on his way to the OT (Kirsner, 2013).

Banking and other financial services:

Fidelity Investments has evolved a Market Monitor (Sposito, 2013) app that allows customers to look for quotes for high-end U.S. stock indices and access updated alerts. Many other banks in U.S., for example, Wells Fargo and Bank of America, (Financial-brand, 2013) are also experimenting with Google Glass to engage their customers.

In the commercial sector the ease of payments, deposition of cheques and money transfers is being explored by banks to enable voice commands by the customers. Scanning of QR codes and subsequent processing is being tried. A bank statement of current balances and a statement history detailing transactions of the last thirty days is already in its test-mode using Google Glass in the Fio Bank (Inmite, 2013).Updates of stock values, indices and quotes are being tried by Fidelity Investments in the U.S. along with real-time inputs (Sposito, 2013).investors are also provided similar apps on an experimental basis by Wells Fargo and Bank of America (Financial-brand, 2013).

Media:

"The Kiss" a short film by Evan Ferrante & Boonsri Dickinson (Katz, 2013) and "A Cyborg in New York" by Boonsri Dickinson (Manaster, 2013) have already tried to make the use of Google Glass in their short films to provide for a first person perspective for the viewers. Google has taken the initiative in this area by providing the students of film institute's in Rhode Island School of Design, University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts, University of California Los Angeles and the American Film Institute with their latest device to try and experiment with different characters, documentaries and other innovative ways of storytelling in action packed sequences (Abramovitch, 2013).

Firefighters:

This is one welcome area of application where the hydrants' water level can be constantly monitored to take most appropriate actions speedily. The possibility of ascertaining a colleague in precarious situation needing help or assistance can also be explored.

Police:

These executive can now possibly have easy access to data regarding fugitives and suspects while on the beat itself by being able to rummage through online data.

Military Personnel:

A critical application of Glass can be in the military operations where the soldiers are most prone getting strayed away from their respective units in their quest of single mindedness resulting in loss of location references and whereabouts. Am embedded map can be referred to instantly using Google Glass.

Surgeons:

The students of surgery can also benefit from the first-hand videos shot by their peers in action during a surgery. Case in point:-GoPro cameras ((Kim et al., 2013).

Over and above the direct uses that the industry sectors have already ventured into another one that can make good use is the insurance people. The insurance industry can benefit by exploring the advantages it can offer to its employees (the field-agents, for e.g.,) as well as the customer. Their enterprise would greatly help the way they operate their business and improve overall efficiency. The business would invariably improve with the efficiency levels of settling cases on the rise, as a result.

Trend Analysis

The Glass is poised to emerge as the next big thing that technology promises and take the world by storm in many industries that touch everyday human life. It has already claimed a prominent place in the minds of all those for whom large data, audio-video functionality, consistent internet access and rapid interaction while keeping both arms free for other important work is important. Ease of carrying, better HMI and the size of the device has caused its wide acceptance. The Glass is the next step in evolution that smart phones and tablets had begun in communications and computing.

The following observations (results of surveys) are pointers to the fact that Glass is destined to penetrate further into the human lives that any present or past device ever had.

We hold the belief that designing, power (battery) consumption and the pricing go a long way in deciding if it can attain the projected sale figure of twenty one million units by the end of 2018 (Danove, 2013;source:- BI Intelligence).

As a further proof to the effect, a tenth of adult smart phones users surveyed by BiTE Interactive in April 2013, Americans found Glass good enough to be on their person round the clock if it were priced competitively.

With around hundred and forty five million smart phone users as quantified till August, 2013(Comscore, 2013) that ten percent transforms to a fourteen million prospective buyers of Google Glass in the U.S. itself.

It is a given that the more tech-savvy general users and those that can find real useful uses to upgrade their businesses and vocations will be among the first users of this new innovation. However, the long-term wider acceptance and adoption of this marvel would largely depend on the designing aspects that Google brings into it for better social acceptance. In a survey carried out by Bite Interactive (Cruz, 2013) almost half the respondents found it an uncomfortable proposition to wear such a device, at least in its present form. This feedback is most unexpected for the developers of the device. It was anticipated to be seen as a trend setter of sorts, a style statement, if you may.

There is a definite cognition for Glass in the market. However what is unsure is how fast, if at all, it will replace the smart phones and the tablets that are firmly entrenched as the most favored devices at present. There are a few changes, according to us, that may help make this device a good option to the already used digital devices: