Google Glass on “slow path to social acceptance”

Fewer than 10 million smart glasses will be shipped by 2017 as the technology struggles to become socially acceptable, according to a leading analyst firm.

Juniper Research cites several reasons why Google Glass – which is essentially the entire smart glasses market at the moment – has failed to take off. The company claims a “lack of a key consumer use case has resulted in low levels of shipments and adoption in the smart glasses”.

It also claims that Glass is on the “slow path to social acceptance”, with concerns over privacy and safety leading customers and governments to shun the technology.

Those safety fears were all too real for PC Pro’s Google Glass guinea pig, Stuart Turton, who was mugged when he tested the headset last month. Which surely highlights another reason for the slow adoption of Google Glass that Juniper doesn’t highlight – the sheer cost of the device – which will currently set you back £1,000.

There is a glimmer of hope for Google and the other potential smart glasses makers in Juniper’s findings. The company claims “smart glasses development is at a comparable stage to smartphones in the early 2000s”, and they’ve gone on to become something of a hit after an uncertain start.

In the meantime, however, Juniper predicts that smart glasses will likely find a home in the enterprise market, most likely in sectors such as healthcare. “As workplaces are likely to share devices between users, rather than purchase devices in bulk for all their employees, this will result in high investment but low shipment volumes to the enterprise for the next five years,” Juniper predicts.