Google is quietly distributing a new version of Glass for business customers that attaches to other glasses; consumer version at least a year away
But It's All About the Enterprise for Now Laura Entis / Entrepreneur : Google Glass Is Creeping Back Bruno Ferreira / The Tech Report : Report: new Google Glass is a clip-on model for businesses Richard Nieva / Yahoo Tech : Google Said to Be Trying Out New Version of Glass For Workplace Chris Smith / BGR : WSJ: How Google wants to fix its broken Glass JC Torres / SlashGear : Google tipped to be sneaking “Glass EE” into workplaces Andrew Trotman / Telegraph : Google quietly releases new Google Glass Tom Warren / The Verge : Google Glass will have a new snap-on design, says WSJ Richard Nieva / CNET : Google said to be trying out new version of Glass for workplace Shaun Nichols / The Register : Google sneaks out new clip-on Glass techno-specs for sad Glassholes Tim-o-tato / Droid Life : Google to Seed New Version of Google Glass to Select Industries Lauren Hockenson / The Next Web : Report: Google is distributing a business version of Glass that attaches to different glasses
Context & Ripple Effects
The WSJ report lands three weeks after 9to5Google first flagged that the next Glass would be an 'Enterprise Edition' with expanded testing later in the year, and days after details emerged of a foldable, water-resistant, ruggedized build aimed at the workplace. What changes today is the distribution detail: rather than a public relaunch, Google is reportedly slipping a clip-on unit that attaches to ordinary glasses directly to business customers, keeping the program low-profile while the consumer product waits at least another year.
The quiet approach reads as damage control after the original consumer version burned out publicly. The arc that follows — an FCC filing revealing the foldable hardware, then Google formally announcing Glass Enterprise Edition with prescription-lens support and upgraded specs in 2017 — suggests this clip-on pilot was the bridge that kept the product alive long enough to be rebuilt for work.
First-order effects
- Business customers get hands on wearable hardware designed to mount on glasses they already own, removing both the standalone-device cost and the social friction that sank the consumer version.
- Google buys itself at least a year of runway: enterprise feedback now shapes the roadmap while no consumer commitment has to be defended publicly.
Second-order effects
- A rugged, water-resistant form factor points toward industrial buyers — factory floors and field service — where durability requirements, not fashion, dictate design, pulling Glass's supply chain toward workplace-grade components.
- The clip-on architecture lowers the trial cost for employers, making head-worn displays easier to pilot alongside safety gear rather than as a replacement for it.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — consumer rejection followed by enterprise persistence, ending in a formal 2017 relaunch — smart glasses survive not as consumer gadgets but as occupational tools, with prescription-lens compatibility deciding how broadly they can deploy across a workforce.
- Google's playbook here becomes the template other consumer-hardware failures follow: retreat to paying business pilots, iterate quietly under regulatory radar like the FCC filing, and only re-emerge when the product has a job to do.
The trend: Consumer-facing wearables are being rebuilt around enterprise workflows first, with workplace deployments serving as the proving ground before any return to the mass market.