{"id":35223,"date":"2020-07-01T00:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T00:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2628963"},"modified":"2020-07-01T00:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T00:48:00","slug":"google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/","title":{"rendered":"Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"233\" height=\"24\" src=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4126-logo-1-1489.png\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 5px; clear:both;max-width: 100%;\" link_thumbnail=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In a semi-surprising move, Google buys North, a young company that made AR wearables in the form of smart glasses.<\/li>\n<li>North&rsquo;s Focals are now dead with the company winding down Focals 1.0 and canceling Focals 2.0.<\/li>\n<li>While it&rsquo;s easy to assume Google is working on a new version of Google Glass for consumers, it might not be that simple<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In some major acquisition news today, Google buys North, the company that made some waves with its very Google Glass-like smart glasses known as Focals. Our own David Imel got a chance to use the AR glasses you see above &mdash; read all about the experience&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/focals-by-north-review-1075048\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both Google and North posted&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/hardware\/focus-helpful-devices-google-acquires-north\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-vars-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products\/hardware\/focus-helpful-devices-google-acquires-north\/\">separate<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bynorth.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-vars-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.bynorth.com\/\">blog entries<\/a>&nbsp;announcing the news, with each expressing excitement about the future. However, neither company is being very clear on what this acquisition means for North&rsquo;s future of making smart glasses or Google&rsquo;s future of using North&rsquo;s patents and staff for whatever it has in mind.<\/p>\n<h2>Google buys North&hellip;but why?<\/h2>\n<p>North ended its announcement post with a statement that it will be &ldquo;winding down&rdquo; Focals 1.0, the smart glasses mentioned earlier. In addition, Focals 2.0 have been totally canceled, with refunds going out to anyone who pre-purchased a pair.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related:&nbsp;<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/focals-by-north-review-1075048\/\">Focals by North review: Google Glass has a worthy successor<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In other words: Google buys North and then North cancels its current and upcoming products. One would assume that would mean Google plans to use North&rsquo;s products, patents, and staff to make something similar to Focals. However, it could also mean that Google has something else in mind.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that there have been plenty of rumors that Apple is gearing up to launch&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/apple-glasses-1053095\/\">a set of its own AR glasses<\/a>, tentatively called Apple Glass. It&rsquo;s very possible Google wants to combine what it learned from the ill-fated launch of Google Glass with the success (and mistakes) North has had with Focals to make a competing product.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the case, the acquisition is likely terrific news for North, as rumors suggest the company&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/business\/article-a-vision-fades-alphabet-buying-canadian-smart-glasses-pioneer-north\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-vars-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/business\/article-a-vision-fades-alphabet-buying-canadian-smart-glasses-pioneer-north\/\">wasn&rsquo;t selling too many pairs of Focals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tags\">\n<div><strong>See Campaign: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-buys-north-1133814\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-buys-north-1133814\/<\/a><br \/><b>Contact Information:<\/b><br \/>C. Scott Brown<\/p>\n<p><b>Tags:<\/b><br \/><a href=\"\"><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/news-category\/wire\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Wire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/global-regions\/united-states\/\" rel=\"category tag\">United States<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/category\/language\/english\/\" rel=\"category tag\">English<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"image\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" class=\"cwdfimg\" \/><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Contact Information:<\/h3>\n<p>C. Scott Brown<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"233\" height=\"24\" src=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4126-logo-1-1489.png\" alt=\"\">In a semi-surprising move, Google buys North, a young company that made AR wearables in the form of smart glasses. North&rsquo;s Focals are now dead with the company winding down Focals 1.0 and canceling Focals 2.0. While it&rsquo;s easy to assume Google is working on a new version of Google Glass for consumers, it might &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/2020\/06\/30\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\">Continue reading <span>Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-united-states","category-wire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear - Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear - Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a semi-surprising move, Google buys North, a young company that made AR wearables in the form of smart glasses. North&rsquo;s Focals are now dead with the company winding down Focals 1.0 and canceling Focals 2.0. While it&rsquo;s easy to assume Google is working on a new version of Google Glass for consumers, it might &hellip; Continue reading Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear Continue Reading &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-01T00:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4126-logo-1-1489.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Waqas Awan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Waqas Awan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/07\/01\/google-just-bought-a-smart-glasses-firm-but-reasons-for-purchase-are-unclear\/\",\"name\":\"Google just bought a smart glasses firm but reasons for purchase are unclear - 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