Apple Google Glass Prototypes Scrapped For Lack Of Time

A revelation of sorts has appeared today courtesy of the CEO of Nest – former employee of Apple – in discussions about an Apple-made headset similar to what we're seeing now most famously in Google Glass. This week the folks at Co.Design have collected a set of quotes from former Apple employees and designers showing products that either didn't make it or weren't a big part of the marketing scheme Apple presented to the world as such, the chat with Tony Fadell being just one of them. In this chat, he suggests that – of course – Apple spoke about "something like Google Glass."

Making clear that his time at Apple was spent always trying to innovate, Fadell pushed the idea that Apple was always asking "what else can we revolutionize?" He went on to say that they'd worked with basically everything and anything – video cameras and remote controls included. If you're a student of the massive library that is Apple patent filings, you've likely seen every device and patent of a button on any and every device that you could ever hope for.

Fadell suggested that the conversation was started something like this:

"What if we make visors, so it's like you're sitting in a theater?"

He continued, saying that he himself built "a bunch" of prototypes for the headset, none of them making it to the point where Apple considered moving forward with them. Fadell's conviction that "we didn't have time" came after suggesting Apple's success in products they'd already had either on the market or in production was enough.

So take that and think about how likely it is that Apple will make a wearable set of goggles or an eyepiece in the near future. The same conclusion could've been reached when Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "broad appeal is hard to see" for a product like Google's Glass. We'll just have to wait for another generation, perhaps!

VIA: 9to5Google