Google’s Glass Gets a Competitor – Vuzix
Vuzix already sells wearable—if clunky—displays to consumers looking to immerse themselves in movies, and it provides more expensive products, such as augmented-reality glasses with a camera and display in each lens, to researchers and the Department of Defense. The Smart Glasses, which have a notably slimmer design than those products, should launch next year for under $500.
Vuzix has a longer history in this field, and about 60 patents, but like Google, it will probably face challenges persuading people to actually wear the devices.
Travers says he has sold versions of that technology to the Pentagon’s early-stage research agency, DARPA, and will launch monocular wearable displays for industrial use in December; the Smart Glasses will eventually get the technology too. However, costs will have to fall significantly for that to happen. Vuzix’s industrial monocular system is expected to cost $2,500 and up, depending on the features.