Most people remember when Google glass first appeared;
Google’s virtual reality glasses. This is mostly because the innovation didn’t glide
into the world; it jumped and exploded. It was on morning and evening shows,
television shows like The Simpsons were showcasing it in episodes, there were
skits dedicated to it on Saturday Night Live, YouTube videos were shot to
review them, models wore them on runways and there was even a 12-page Spread in
Vogue dedicated to it! However, just last week, Google announced that Glass was
going away. According to employees involved with Google Glass, this was not the
plan at all; that wasn’t the way it was supposed to make its start or its end.
For years, google was working on something called Project X,
later to be known as Google Glass. This is because they didn’t want anyone to
know what project they were working on. Once they thought they had a prototype ready
to show that was nowhere near prime time, they decided to sell it to only Glass
Explorers and no retail. This plan backfired and interest soared as media
stories exploded with excitement. After just a little time, the shine began to
wear off and tech reviewers were giving it reviews such as, “worst product of
all time” and “”a product plagued by bugs.” It began being banned from public
places as privacy concerns were raised. Glass went from coveted to a punch
line.
This is an example of a business startup that failed; just
what we have talked about in class. The formula is to: Write a business plan,
pitch it to investors, assemble a team, introduce a product and start selling.
And, of course, there was a fatal set back. There was someone who made up the
idea, wrote a plan, google was going to fund the idea. From that, they wanted
to make a prototype and see how it did with Glass Explorer; they still wanted
it to stay a secret, though. That is where it took a bad turn because word got
out and it began selling before Google was ready. Because it wasn’t a finished
product, it failed in the marketplace and Google had to take it back.
This information is really important for MIS professionals
and students. You can have the coolest idea in the world, but be careful what
you do with it because it will fail if you don’t take precautions and follow
the appropriate steps.
My understanding was that Google was moving to a different lens and was only using Glass to see what it could do. Maybe not. Google is always experimenting, so nothing is ever done once.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting! It seemed to me that Google was experimenting and word got out before they were done experimenting. And you are completely right! Google never does anything twice and that includes this mistake! Lesson learned! :)
ReplyDelete