Google on Tuesday announced that it’s finally ready to offer Glass Explorers the prescription frames they were waiting for. “If we had a nickel for every time someone has asked about prescription lenses for Glass… well, we’d have a lot of nickels,” Google said on Google+. “So we want you to be the first to know that the Titanium Collection is here, with a handful of new styles for Glass so you can make it your own. Whether you wear prescription glasses or just want a new look, we’ve got four feather-light titanium frames designed just for you.”
While each version of the frame retails for $225, the good news is that Google has struck a deal with VSP, which is ready to subsidize the frames by as much as $120, not including the prescription lenses, The New York Times reveals. VSP will obviously not subsidize the main computer component of Google Glass.
The frames have been specifically designed to be lightweight, to compensate for the weight of Glass. In addition to the frames, Google also plans to offer two new styles of clip-on sunglasses that will retail for $150 each. In addition to serving their obvious purpose, the new frames may also help in a different area – appeasing the public around Glass wearers. “What I’ve noticed in public is I get less interaction with people” Google Glass product management director Steve Lee said about wearing frames with Glass. “It’s something society’s more accustomed to.”
Google will sell Google Glass to consumers later this year “for several hundred dollars less” than the $1,500 paid by Glass Explorers, but the Times did not mention an actual number or release date for the commercial version.
Images showing other Google Glass prescription frame versions follow below.
