I joined a startup in February. I've learned more than I could have imagined, often from real-world experience, but sometimes from valuable online resources and articles. I've collected the best here for posterity.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
U.S. Tech Funding — What’s Going On?
Google first announced Glass at Google I/O in June of 2012, nearly three years ago. Since then, the company went through numerous product development cycles, shared an early version of the device with partners like Facebook and Twitter to jumpstart a “Glassware” app ecosystem, launched the Explorer program to a select few developers and influencers, expanded the ability to purchase to anyone in the US and UK, and then quietly shuttered consumer sales and shifted Glass development from Google[x] to Nest.
In the lead-up to the launch of Apple Watch pre-orders this week, the successes and failures of Google Glass should be of particular interest to anyone who follows technology. I have no qualms wagering that Apple will sell millions of Apple Watch units this year. But why will Apple succeed in creating a wearable technology device with mass appeal while Google failed? In what ways did Apple actually follow in Google's footsteps, and in what ways did they chart their own course?
Google and Apple both targeted the fashion world with product placements in Vogue, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple Watch on a runway in the future. But garnering attention from the fashion industry won't compensate for a product’s inherent lack of fashion; it will only expose it. Google went on to develop frames for Glass, but the wrist is simply a much more fashionable place for technology in 2015 than is the face. This is precisely why Apple carefully designed an array of models, bands and sizes to ensure that diverse customers will like the way Apple Watch looks strapped to their arms.
Much like Google, Apple focused on building a robust ecosystem of apps prior to launching Apple Watch. Facebook, Twitter, CNN, NYTimes, Evernote, OpenTable, Strava and Shazam all invested resources to build apps for Glass. And now they’ve all built apps for Apple Watch too. And just like with Glass, most of these apps will allow for glanceable information and lightweight interaction at launch. Apple Watch will face the same usability tests that Glass faced: the ease with which users can complete interactions and all-day battery life, a promise Glass made but never fulfilled.
In addition to selling online through a custom Glass site and through the Google Play store, Google built and staffed “Basecamps” in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and London where customers could purchase, get fitted with, replace and return Glass. Apple, being the most profitable retailer (and company) in the world, will sell Apple Watch and Apple Watch Sport through their brick and mortar stores as well as Apple Watch Edition in select locations. But they’re also building standalone Apple Watch stores in key markets much like Google did with Glass. With the Edition model, it is all but confirmed that Apple will sell through luxury fashion channels like Google did with Net-A-Porter, but through brick and mortar rather than online outlets.
It’s fascinating that Google got so much right with Glass (the need to market to, partner with and distribute through fashion outlets and to focus on glanceable information and lightweight use cases) but ultimately failed to offer a product that was fashionable and polished enough for consumers. The company launched a separate initiative, Android Wear, on stage at Google I/O 2014 with no mention of their other wearable product that launched on the same stage two years earlier and that was still in active development in Google[x].
According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, Jobs told Larry Page that Google was trying to do too much and needed to focus on its strengths. Google clearly had an interest in the wrist by developing Android Wear and also had thought a great deal about fashion through their Glass sales and marketing efforts. But these disparate efforts weren't focused. I suspect that we will see the coalescence of these learnings as their wearable strategy realigns over the course of the next year, but not because leadership proactively put the pieces together internally; because Apple put them together first.
