Anyone Can Buy Google Glass on April 15th, but Should You?

On April 15th at 6am PDT Google will open up the Explorer program to anyone interested in owning their own heads up display.

Here’s the deal though, it’s still a BETA product, and it’s still fairly expensive. While it’s currently our best hope for a consumer, wearable, eye-level computing solution, you’ll have to pony up $1500 + Tax to grab one of your own.

I’m very positive on Glass, but it’s fairly apparent that Google hasn’t handled the launch of this project well. The general public is still fairly ignorant as to what Glass can and can not do, resulting in dramatic interpretations of privacy abuses. People have been written tickets for wearing them while driving, restaurants have asked customers to leave for wearing them, and an Explorer was even physically assaulted by a mob of people.

Google should be praised for pushing the envelope, but the Explorer experiment was flawed from the beginning. When it’s an invite only program for geeks, and the cost of entry is north of $1500, you have to expect that a statistically significant number of participants wont be the kind of people that you’d want as ambassadors for something so new. This has resulted in the coining of the term “Glasshole” to represent people who use Glass in a rude fashion. Unfortunately that term is starting to generically describe anyone with Glass, as it only takes one bad apple to taint the whole bushel.

It’s curious seeing Google continue to push the Explorer program the way they are. Even their Google+ announcement teases that while anyone will be eligible to grab Glass, the number of spots will be limited. One has to wonder, with all of the previous opportunities to become an Explorer, who has Google failed to reach for this BETA?

So should you jump on this open enrollment? If you’re wanting to develop apps, or if you’re really into cutting edge hardware, but were unable to land a spot before now, go for it!

However, the general population should probably sit this one out. You’ll be paying a lot of money to help Google improve their product, and we’re hopefully still going to see a consumer version of the product before year’s end. The cynic in me ALMOST wonders if this is the last push to get rid of first and second generation Glass before a more finalized version launches later this year…

Here’s the Google + announcement for those wanting more info on how to sign up.

If you’ve been curious about Glass, we shot a long interview with Glass Explorer (and contributor to this blog) Christopher Emerson. He delivered a detailed look at what it was like to use Glass on a daily basis, and it’s one of the most in-depth conversations on what Glass actually is, what it can do, and how it might be used in the future.