Google has received a bit of press for it’s announcement that its product, Glass, will be manufactured in the US (at least early runs). Google held a competition called #IfIHadGlass to identify eager early adopters. Winners will get the “chance” to pay $1,500 to get their hands on the product before the general public does. There are several reasons Google probably wants to keep manufacturing close to home.
Eight thousand units is a pretty small run. By modern standards, that’s really a prototype and I think that the production pipeline will probably look a lot like a prototyping pipeline. There will probably be rapid shifts in design and quick fixes to existing units and a more agile process would benefit Google. It’s more cumbersome to export a process overseas and just as cumbersome to make changes to that process. For speed’s sake, it’s better to be in close contact with the manufacturers. There’s also an issue of intellectual property rights which are especially pronounced in something as early in development as this product. If the process is exported, so are many of the secrets of it’s assembly, making it easier to create knockoffs. In addition, there are no competing products on the horizon. For the time being, Google has the luxury of a high price tag since there is nothing to which anyone can compare the product. Finally, there is some nationalistic buzz to be garnered by slapping a “Made In The USA” sticker on your wares.
However…
If Glass is successful, the size of run will grow from thousands to millions of units. They will work out the kinks and changes in design and function can be largely managed through software without changes to the metal. Someday, there will be competing products on the market. When that happens, Google will be competing for margins in addition to mindshare. It will be interesting to watch as the product matures to see if these factors will force Google to look for bargains on the manufacturing front just to keep the product alive.
Google Glass, or something like it, will ultimately be successful; one hopes that Google isn’t setting themselves up to be the MySpace of wearables…
