Project Glass pre-orderers welcomed as ‘Explorers’, promised super secret updates on progress
Google's Project Glass had a surprisingly large presence (skydivers) during its I/O event earlier this year, and now company co-founder Sergey Brin has checked in with the attendees who promised $1,500 …
Context & Ripple Effects
Project Glass has been building toward this since Google's I/O keynote in June, where skydivers wearing the headset gave it its biggest public moment yet, followed by the first real video sample from the hardware in May. The $1,500 pledge from I/O attendees was always more than a purchase — it was an audition for who gets to shape the product before launch.
First-order effects
- The roughly $1,500-per-head I/O pre-orderers are now formally 'Explorers', with Sergey Brin personally checking in and promising them privileged progress updates ahead of any wider release.
- Google converts a one-off conference stunt into an ongoing relationship: a few thousand committed users now have direct lines to the team building Glass.
Second-order effects
- An exclusive early-adopter cohort gives Google a built-in developer and influencer base for free — the Explorers' feedback and visibility substitute for conventional marketing while the hardware is still rough.
- Rivals watching the wearable space now face a competitor that has locked up mindshare and real-world testing data years before shipping anything at retail.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, consumer hardware categories get seeded through paid insider programs rather than traditional launches — buyers pay for the privilege of shaping unfinished products, and the line between customer and tester dissolves.
The trend: Wearable computing is being introduced through exclusive early-access cohorts like the Glass Explorers, trading retail launches for curated communities of paying testers.