Luxottica is well known as the company behind Ray-Ban, Oakley and other popular eyewear brands. However, it’s about to take on its biggest challenge yet: Making Google Glass look cool. The Wall Street Journal reports that Luxottica CEO Massimo Vian said on Friday that his company is working with Google to design the sequel to Google Glass and that the new device would be out soon.
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The status of where Google Glass stands has been in question ever since Google announced it was discontinuing sales of the first-generation device earlier this year. Google shifted responsibility for the computerized handset over to Nest CEO Tony Fadell, who is well known for his design chops. However, this is the first indication we’ve heard that a next-gen Google Glass is anywhere close to being released.
The problems behind the first-generation Google Glass are well documented: Google charged users $1,500 to buy what was essentially a beta of a product; Google didn’t anticipate the social stigma that would come with wearing Glass, as many people worried about whether they were being covertly filmed by the device; and the device caused a lot of issues with people getting sick from wearing it too much.
Whether Luxottica’s input can solve all or even any of these issues remains to be seen.
