Google is selling its Glass product with quite a premium. According to teardown.com, which had a chance to (guess) tear down the fancy device, the Glass comes with a bill of materials of just $79.78. Presuming the assembly costs another $5 per device, that’s $85. And Google asks a whopping $1500 for the benefit!?
Sure enough, the search giant has enormous R&D costs cause they’re practically starting from the scratch. Or do they? Many of the Glass hardware components are already in use in modern smartphones, and the same goes for software. The Glass relies on a modified version of Android and the company’s existing voice recognition technology.
And bear in mind $80 costs to physically make the Glass. Developing a new platform, apps and services for it cost much more. We’re talking about millions of developer hours. So it’s not like Google is ripping out anyone. And besides, no one forces you to buy the Glass if you don’t want to.
Looking forward, we are delighted to learn just how affordable is to physically make the Glass. That fact alone gives us hope that at some point in the not that distant future, the Glass will cost no more than few hundred bucks, reaching many new users along the way…