Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t have kind words for Google Glass, saying Apple “always thought it would flop.” His comments are in an incredibly long profile of Jony Ive, Apple’s design VP, just published this week in New Yorker. Most of the reporting for the profile was done in fall 2014 — months before the [...]
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Apple CEO Tim Cook doesn’t have kind words for Google Glass, saying Apple “always thought it would flop.”
His comments are in an incredibly long profile of Jony Ive, Apple’s design VP, just published this week in New Yorker. Most of the reporting for the profile was done in fall 2014 — months before the Explorer program shut down and Google stopped selling the initial version of Glass.
Much of the article discusses the design of the Apple Watch, which was going on while Google was beginning to develop Glass several years ago.
To Ive, then unaware of Google’s plans, “the obvious and right place” for such a thing was the wrist. When he later saw Google Glass, Ive said, it was evident to him that the face “was the wrong place.” Cook said, “We always thought that glasses were not a smart move, from a point of view that people would not really want to wear them. They were intrusive, instead of pushing technology to the background, as we’ve always believed.” He went on, “We always thought it would flop, and, you know, so far it has.” He looked at the Apple Watch on his wrist. “This isn’t obnoxious. This isn’t building a barrier between you and me.”
Cook’s comments are reminiscent of what Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller said in a 2012 email: “I can’t believe they think anyone (normal) will ever wear these things.” That seems to be Apple’s company line.
Not that Glass needs any defending around these parts, but as we’ve pointed out many times, Glass is following in the footsteps of the personal computer, mobile phones and smartphones by being something that business and industry adopts long before the general public comes around.
The post Apple’s Tim Cook on Google Glass: “We Always Thought It Would Flop” appeared first on Glass Almanac.
