Glassware Review Process opens Google wearable to developers

Google has thrown open Glass to third-party applications, though the wearable still does not support native code from other developers. The newly opened Glassware Review Process is now accepting submissions from any coder, with the promise of more Mirror API quota – the controlled pipe through which cloud-based Glass apps communicate with the headset itself – not to mention inclusion in MyGlass.

MyGlass is the browser and app-based interface through which software and services for Glass – not to mention contact shortcuts, location, and remote wipe – are managed. Until now, with no distinct app store and a limited number of officially sanctioned titles available through MyGlass, the range of third-party software the wearable has offered has been limited.

The alternative has been to use one of the unofficially-sanctioned Glassware titles, though since Google controls the Mirror API pipeline it has put limits on how much traffic can pass between them. That has seen some more popular experiments in augmented reality and similar forced to shut down, because the sheer level of interest has, ironically, meant they cannot meet the demands of all the would-be users.

This new open Glassware submission process, however, promises to change all that. Like Apple's App Store – and unlike the Play market – Google's Glassware apps will be run through the gauntlet of internal testing by the Glass team; there's a checklist of exactly what they'll be looking for, including different icon sizes, screenshots, how menus and bundles are implemented, authorization carried out, and other factors.

"Some of these assets are required for future versions of MyGlass" Google says of the guidelines. "Provide them now so that your Glassware is ready for the update."

It's unspecified, but that update seems likely to be Google's rumored Glass app store, believed to be called the Glass Boutique. According to rumors last month, that will be enabled – along with locally-installed third party titles – in Glass XE10, the version of the wearable's firmware expected to be released sometime in October.

Meanwhile, there are already several new Glassware titles approved as part of the Glassware Review Process, including SportsYapper, Fancy, KitchMe, and Thuuz. It's unclear how long Google expects to take to approve each newly-submitted title.

VIA Timothy Jordan