When Google Glass was pulled from the developer market this past January and put under the watchful eye of Nest chief Tony Fadell, the general consensus was that the wearable would ultimately be scrapped before a final consumer product would ever see the light of day.
Not so fast, says Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who recently told The Wall Street Journal that the technology behind Glass is simply too important to throw away.
In an interview with the publication, Schmidt said when they ended the Glass Explorer program, the press simply assumed that meant they were cancelling the whole project which isn't true. Google is about taking risks, he added, and there's nothing about adjusting Glass that suggests they are ending it.
Glass is a big and very fundamental platform for Google, he continued, and just like their self-driving car, it's a long-term project that takes time to develop.
Google Glass quickly became one of the hottest tech products in Silicon Valley when it was first shown off in 2012. The search giant launched an Explorer program in which interested developers could shell out $1,500 for early access to the wearable.
Once Google started seeding units to the public, however, the perception of Glass suddenly shifted from a futuristic tech device to a creepy gadget with all sorts of privacy concerns. The headset was ultimately banned in a number of establishments which likely led to it being pulled from the market. A complete redesign is said to be underway.