There's a new Google Glass reportedly on the way, but the wearable's update is more of a touch-up than a makeover.
9to5Google reports that the Google Glass Enterprise Edition will be more functional — adding folding arms like normal glasses with frames that are more durable and waterproof — for specific uses in specific workplaces. Unlike Google Glass' previous go-around, the focus here is on utility, not fashion.
Selling Glass to the enterprise market makes sense, given the largely unenthusiastic and occasionally hostile response to Google's Explorer program, which provided Glass to a relatively select group of people. The Enterprise Edition seems designed to make a case for how useful Glass can be in places like construction sites and hospitals. People seem to trust nurses more than young, wealthy Silicon Valley techies. (Go figure!) So if nurses are wearing Glass perhaps it could make the idea of a face computer more palatable to the rest of the world. Or not.
According to reporting from 9to5Google, the Enterprise Edition will likely be distributed solely to certified Glass for Work partners Google has already chosen. However, with Tony Fadell and Ivy Ross — two design-minded Google executives — still running Glass, it's likely that this design is only an incremental step along the way to something more fashion-forward for a consumer release.