Google is about to create a multi-billion dollar market for cyborg accessories
There are fewer than 10,000 Google Glass headsets in the wild—2,000 in the hands of developers and another 8,000 trickling out to early adopters—but already, creative entrepreneurs are thinking ahead to what will be a brand new, multi-billion dollar industry: accessories for Glass and other face-based computers.
Accessories for smartphones were a $20 billion business in 2012, and are projected to be a $38 billion business by 2017. That’s a lot of protective cases, keyboard stands and speaker docks. If Google Glass and the many competitors that will inevitably follow eventually ship in numbers that are even a fraction of the market for smartphones, you can bet that a healthy trade in accessories will arise to serve the world’s cyborgs.
At first glance, a wearable computer seems like a hard thing to accessorize—do we really want to stick more things on our face and/or head? But if anything, there is even more potential to accessorize Google Glass than a typical smartphone, in part because of its built-in wireless (WiFi, Bluetooth) and wired (USB) connections and always-on nature.
A boon for eyewear makers
Given Google’s target market, you can bet they’re working on a model that attaches to existing eyeglasses.USPTO
Google is rumored to be talking to hipster eyewear purveyor Warby Parker about creating frames that can specifically accommodate the little computer / eyepiece combo that comprises Glass. A recent patent suggests that Google is also considering putting magnets on Glass so that it can attach to any pair of glasses with corresponding metallic or magnetic bits. If Google Glass takes off, even people who don’t normally wear glasses could end up with a pair, resulting in a whole new market for makers of all types of eyewear.
Even before Google makes Glass compatible with regular glasses, the tinted and clear lenses the existing Glass headset comes with are a point of entry for a nimble accessory-maker. These lenses are a single piece that people can simply snap into place, making them an obvious point of potential customization.
Getting creative with add-ons
You can’t spell success without “accessory,” probably.Todd Blatt
Todd Blatt of Brooklyn, NY has used his design skills and the insta-manufacturing power of 3D printing to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign for a variety of snap-on Glass accessories. While they’re mostly whimsical, one that puts a macro lens in front of Glass’s camera has at least some utility....MORE
