You no longer need to be special to own Google Glass -- you only need to have $1,500.
Just one month after stocks reportedly almost run out during a 24-hour Glass sale, Google is finally cutting the VIP cord and letting anyone in the U.S. with some cold cash to spare to buy its augmented-reality headgear.
"We learned a lot when we opened our site a few weeks ago, so we've decided to move to a more open beta. We're still in the Explorer Program while we continue to improve our hardware and software, but starting today anyone in the U.S. can buy the Glass Explorer Edition, as long as we have it on hand," Google Glass has announced Tuesday on its Google+ page.
If you are considering coughing up the $1,500 for a pair of smart specs, take note that Google is selling the beta version of Glass and not the final model that will be released to the mainstream market, if that happens.
Analysts believe that the 1,000% markup on the device's price tag is meant to attract only those who are serious about testing and improving the Glass' hardware and software. Various reports have cropped up pegging the build cost of Glass somewhere between $80 and less than $200. Forbes predicts that the final Glass version that will be sold to the regular consumer will cost somewhere between $200 and $500, since it is very rare for a technology company to sell consumer electronics at more than three times the cost of manufacturing them.
The new release will include improvements implemented after the first few rounds of feedback were gleaned. After being criticized for its unfashionable frames, Google Glass has teamed up with Ray-Ban to create better-looking frames, which will come in charcoal, tangerine, cotton, shale and sky. You can also ask for titanium frames and sunglasses free of charge. Google Glass is also now compatible with prescription lenses.
Glass first went on sale towards the end of 2012, with 2,000 developers snapping up the $1,500 specs to develop apps before the beta product was launched. Another 8,000 people jumped at the chance to test out Google's vision of the future, followed by a steady trickle of sales fueled by invitations from friends of friends.
Soon after Google Glass opened its doors to the American public for a day early in May, Google came out saying the response was "overwhelming."
"Our hope is to bring Glass to new Explorers, like optometrists, sports lovers, online retailers, cooks and travelers, who (like you!) can get in early and help make Glass better as part of our open beta, ahead of a wider consumer launch," said Glass on its Google+ page.
