Smile! 8000 Google Glasses could be on the way (and made in the USA)
Around 8000 people are likely to learn this week that they have been chosen as Google Explorers and will be allowed to buy Google Glass - the new internet gadget you wear like spectacles .More news: Some could actually be made in the United States.
Google Glass: Looking good!
According to the Financial Times, Google plans to manufacture early models at an assembly plant in Silicon Valley.
Techies are highly excited about the possibilities of the new device.
Voice-activated software and a small touch pad will let wearers operate a digital camera, send emails and display Internet info on a tiny screen above his or her right eye.
Google held a marketing contest to choose the first people eligible to buy the device at $1,500 a pop . "We could never have imagined such an enthusiastic response," said Google. "There were so many creative, diverse, and (sometimes) crazy applications."
This week a spokesperson told the Drum that the winners, 8000 in all, were being notified via Twitter and Google+.
Google was said to be working with the Taiwanese firm Foxconn to assemble several thousand Glass headsets at a Santa Clara factory, according to the FT report.
Google would not confirm it.
The San Jose Mercury News said,"If true, it marks a rare experiment in domestic manufacturing by the U.S. tech industry, which has long relied on overseas manufacturers to assemble the vast majority of computers, smartphones and other gadgets."
Having said that , Apple last year announced it was to spend $100 million on contracts with domestic. suppliers. Although, a fraction of its overall production budget it was seen as a start, with production costs in China expected to rise.
So why would Google choose the US for Google glass? The FT suggested it might be using a domestic plant for Glass for tight control over initial production of a new and technically complex device. Future versions could be made overseas.