As a technology, the screen is sort of a kludge. It only works if you’re looking at it. For an advertiser, that’s just not good enough. If you’re out walking around, the screen on your desk or your console isn’t doing anything. The one on your phone is a little better, but not if it’s tucked away in your pocket.That’s why the new glasses Google plans to begin selling by the end of the year are so promising. A built-in screen allows them to function as a so-called heads-up display, overlaying whatever the viewers is looking at with a digital layer. The glasses will be tricked out with a wireless internet connection, an Android operating system, motion sensors, GPS and a camera.They’ll also be rather ugly, apparently.
The glasses were developed by Google X, the blue-sky lab that focuses on ambitious projects that often seem more rooted in science fiction than in current reality. As such, there’s no business model to speak of, beyond selling them to consumers for a few hundred dollars.
Google being Google, however, you can be sure advertising will eventually enter into the picture, literally. And when it does, it will most assuredly be in the form of augmented reality. Google already incorporates AR in Google Goggles, a smart phone app that “uses image recognition technology to recognize objects and return relevant search results.” Those objects can include ads, which come alive when viewed through Goggles, as you can see in this demo.
So far, Google has only scratched the surface of the advertising potential here. That makes sense: How many times in your life are you actually going to point your phone at an ad?
Google glasses could change all that. Now the user doesn’t have to point his phone at an ad to activate the AR layer — he only has to look at it. Combine that with location data and all the other rich targeting information Google has at its disposal and you’re talking about potentially the most valuable advertising medium ever invented.
Imagine it: You’re walking home from work. You put on your Google Glasses to check your email and notice that the sushi place across the street, where you frequently go for takeout, is highlighted. In the window is a glowing icon that lets you know there’s a discount available. A tiny tilt of your head brings up the offer: 40% off any purchase plus free edamame. With a bit more tilting and nodding, you place your order. By the time you cross the street, it’s ready for you. Would you like to pay via Google Wallet?
You nod.
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