Despite the speculations regarding the death of the Google Glass, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt clarified that the company has not abandoned its high-tech eyewear project.
The executive explained that the company is working on improving the Google Glass and he is very confident about the device's return, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Google Glass was first released to the public in May of 2014 with a retail price of $1,500. However, the device, which allowed users to take photographs just by blinking and request online information based on their location, did not successfully take off months after its debut.
The device has been criticized because it can allegedly be used to violate other people's privacy by taking snapshots of them without their knowledge.
Then, in January of this year, after Google stopped the Glass Explorer support for the eyewear and after discontinuing the sale of the product, rumors about the company ditching the project emerged.
"We ended the Explorer program and the press conflated this into us cancelling the whole project, which isn't true," Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal. "Google is about taking risks and there's nothing about adjusting Glass that suggests we're ending it."
The executive then clarified that Google has moved the Glass under the supervision of the company's advanced research department, Google X.
The improvements and further development of the Google Glass is being managed by Tony Fadell, the current head of Google's Nest. Before ending up with Google, Fadell worked with Apple for the early stages of the iPod's development, CNET reported.
According to Schmidt, through Google X, the company aims to enhance the technology behind the Google Glass. But like other great technological innovations, the executive admitted that it might take some time before the new version of the eyewear is rolled out.
"That's like saying the self-driving car is a disappointment because it's not driving me around now," he said about the criticisms the Glass has received. "These things take time."
