The Glass: Google's Wearable Moment

There is a moment that happened this week, and the moment is the keynote: the Google I/O that opened on Wednesday, the three and a half hour show that began with Glass. The show began with the demo: the skydivers and the cyclists and the bikers who streamed their feeds to the stage. The Glass Explorer Edition went on sale for fifteen hundred dollars, and the preorder sold out. The keynote is the May 2013 story, and the story is the lesson: the demo that opened the show, the device that is the bet, the critics who circle, and the company that believes the future of computing is beyond the phone.

The Glass is the subject of this article: what the keynote showed, what the Explorer Edition costs, what the critics are saying, and what the wearable bet means.

1. The Stage on Wednesday

The stage is the place, and the place is San Francisco: the Moscone Center that hosted Google I/O 2013, the three days from May 15 through May 17, the developers from every time zone, the hall that filled before the doors opened. The stage is the Wednesday keynote: the session that ran for roughly three and a half hours, the announcements that arrived one after another, the crowd that watched from the seats and the screens above the stage. The stage is the ritual, and the ritual was the show, and the show was the week that began with Glass.

The stage is also the frame, and the frame is the order: the keynote that opened with Glass, the wearable demo that came before the maps and the messaging and the music, the decision to lead with the device that is not yet for everyone. The stage is the May 2013 meaning: the company that chose its moment, the developers who saw the future of computing beyond the phone, the press that wrote the drafts, the story that began on Wednesday and continues this week. The order was the argument, and the argument was the bet, and the bet was Glass.

2. The Glass on the Face

The Glass is the device, and the device is the frame: the wearable computer that sits on the nose like a pair of glasses, the screen that hovers above the right eye, the camera that records what the wearer sees, the voice that answers when the wearer speaks. The Glass is the Explorer Edition: the first version that Google offered to the public, the model priced at fifteen hundred dollars, the one day preorder that opened on Wednesday in the United States. The Glass is the wearable moment, and the moment is the face, and the face is where the future lives.

The preorder is the proof, and the proof is the demand: the Explorer Edition that sold out within the day, the fifteen hundred dollar price that did not stop the buyers, the limited run that made the device scarce, the wait that will come before the next batch. The preorder is the May 15 fact: the Glass that was offered in the morning, the stock that was gone by the evening, the developers who ordered and who missed, the signal that the wearable market is real. The demand was the answer, and the answer was the audience that wants to wear it.

3. The Demo from the Sky

The demo is the opener, and the opener is the sky: the skydivers who jumped with Glass on their faces, the cyclists who rode with Glass on their helmets, the bikers who streamed their feeds back to the stage, the footage that arrived from the air and the road. The demo is the Wednesday spectacle: the jumpers who landed in the hall, the riders who rolled onto the stage, the screens that showed what the wearers saw, the crowd that roared. The demo was the argument, and the argument was the point: the camera that goes where the body goes.

The stage is the witness, and the witness is Sergey Brin: the founder who stood before the crowd, the Glass project that he introduced with the demo, the applause that followed the landing, the moment that belonged to the wearable. The stage is also the Screencast: the feed that played on the big screens, the perspective of the wearer that everyone in the hall could see, the crowd that watched the sky through the eyes of the jumpers. The Screencast was the engineering, and the engineering was the stream that did not break, and the stream was the story of the morning.

4. The Wearable Bet

The bet is the wearable, and the wearable is the future: the Glass that Google calls the future of computing beyond the phone, the device that moves the screen from the pocket to the face, the interface that listens and speaks, the next platform that the company builds before the current one ends. The bet is the Google argument: the phone that was the center of modern computing, the Glass that will take its place, the decade that will prove it. The bet is the moonshot, and the moonshot is the culture, and the culture is the reason the demo opened the show.

The moonshot is the culture, and the culture is the X lab: the skunkworks inside Google where Glass was born, the projects that aim beyond the incremental, the engineers who work on the impossible, the license the company gives to the strange. The moonshot is the Google way: the search engine that pays for experiments, the Glass that is the visible one, the failures that are tolerated, the breakthroughs that are expected. The moonshot is the May 2013 lesson: the company that shows the future before it is ready, and the crowd that cheers it anyway, and the world that watches.

5. The Rest of the Show

The show is the catalog, and the catalog is the week: the unified Hangouts that replaced the old chat apps, the Google+ redesign that came with it, the new Google Maps with the fresh interface, the Google Now that expanded to more cards and more questions. The show is the May 15 menu: the Play Music All Access that streams for 9.99 a month, the game services that came to Android, the Galaxy S4 that ships with stock Android, the list that filled the three and a half hours. The catalog was the reminder, and the reminder was the scale.

The absence is also the news, and the news is the Nexus: the new Nexus hardware that did not appear, the devices the crowd expected, the slots empty on the stage, the message that the phone was not the center of this keynote. The absence is the May 2013 signal: the company that saved its biggest moment for the wearable, the phones that were updated instead of replaced, the story that the Glass was the point. The absence was the emphasis, and the emphasis was the shift from the pocket to the face, and the shift is the story of the week.

6. The Critics at the Door

The critics are the counterweight, and the counterweight is the question: the privacy that the tiny camera threatens, the strangers who cannot tell when the Glass is recording, the rules that do not exist yet, the unease that follows the device into cafes and trains. The critics are the beginning of the backlash: the word Glassholes that has entered the language, the establishments deciding whether to admit the wearers, the debate that grows around the device. The critics are the May 2013 fact: the promise that arrives with the problem attached, and the problem is the price of the promise.

The debate is the context, and the context is the caution: the wearable that asks society to change its manners, the etiquette not yet written, the norms that every new technology must earn, the patience that the company will need. The debate is the engineering lesson: the product judged not only by its circuits but by its manners, the camera that must earn the trust of the room, the design that must answer the questions before the critics finish asking. The debate was the beginning, and the beginning was the warning, and the warning was part of the story of the week.

7. The Mobile Future

The context is the shift, and the shift is mobile: the computing that moved from the desk to the pocket, the phones that became the center of the digital life, the maps and the mail and the music that followed the user everywhere, the industry that rearranged itself around the screen. The context is the rivalry: the Google that builds Android, the Apple that built the phone that started it, the giants who compete for the same future, the developers who choose sides. The context is the May 2013 moment: the mobile that is settled, the wearable that is next.

The future is the question, and the question is the Glass: the phone that cannot grow much further, the screen that has reached its limit in the pocket, the next step that leaves the hand, the computing that Glass promises beyond the phone. The future is the Google argument: the wearable that is not a toy, the platform that is not a phone, the bet that the next decade belongs to the face, the claim the keynote made. The future was the point of the show, and the show was the point of the week, and the week belongs to the wearable.

8. The Lesson for Engineers

The lesson is the method, and the method is the demo: the product that was shown before it was finished, the stream that was engineered before the crowd arrived, the jumpers who rehearsed the sky, the stage that was built for the fall, the team that made the impossible look easy. The lesson is the Google example: the company that builds the future in public, that invites the ridicule and the applause, that ships the experiment to the buyers, that lets the market argue. The lesson is the engineering culture: the prototype that is real, the demo that is honest.

The lesson is also the perspective: the failures that will come, the critics who will be proven right and wrong, the wearable that will be judged by the decade, the teams that will be remembered for the opening of the show. The Glass is the May 2013 story, and the story is the lesson: the keynote that opened with the sky, the device that is the bet, the critics who are already circling, the company that believes the future of computing is beyond the phone. The lesson is the moment, and the moment is the beginning, and the beginning is the Glass.

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