Ahead of Google’s I/O developer conference, which kicks off this Wednesday, Mountain View has opened up sales of its augmented reality wearable goggles, Glass, to people outside the US.
This follows Glass being opened up to general indifference anyone in the U.S. to buy, not just select invitees, back in April. But this is the wearable’s first international foray.
Specifically Brits with a hankering to stick Mountain View’s voice-controllable heads-up display on their faces can now do so — provided they’re willing to shell out a cool grand (£1,000) for the privilege of becoming a Google-powered human camcorder. Truly there are cheaper ways to weird out your friends.
Glass is up for grabs in the UK via Google Play. It’s still the Explorer Edition — aka the beta version for earlier adopters. Which, in any case, is evident from the crazy pricing. Heck, Glass is more expensive than the Amazon Fire Phone.
UK guinea pigs willing to stump up to have data injected onto a small screen in close proximity to their eyeball have a choice of five colours of Glass plastic — including tangerine and sky — and can also currently get a free frame or shade thrown in by Google. Anything to make Glass look less nerdtastic.
(Also today Google announced the sale of the first designer frames for Glass, by Diane Von Fustenberg — but those fancier frames are only available to buy in the US as yet.)
First to the punch with UK glassware apps include The Guardian newspaper with an app that delivers updates and headlines; music identifier app Shazam; and gamified fitness app Zombies, Run!.