Official line
Shift from consumer Explorer to enterprise Glass.
Google · Wearables · Product
Google Glass (Explorer)
Discontinued
2013–2015 · 2 years in market
Launched
Apr 15, 2013
Discontinued
Jan 19, 2015
Cause of death
Privacy backlash
Evidence
Unsourced
What was it?
A face-mounted computer that made civilians into ‘Glassholes.’ Privacy panic killed the consumer edition; enterprise limped on.
Why it died
Editorial reading
Social license was never granted. A $1,500 prototype was sold as a product, in public, with a camera at eye level.
Founder takeaway
Wearable cameras need a social contract first. Do not ship a prototype as a lifestyle accessory.
Sources
Unsourced — editorial reading
No primary source is attached yet. Treat the interpretation as editorial, not a citation.
What replaced it
Meta
Ray-Ban Meta
Cameras in glasses, with a much quieter form factor.
Related graves
Same company, category, or cause of death.
RIP
Google Buzz
2010–2011 · 1 yr
A Gmail-attached social feed that auto-followed your contacts. Privacy firestorm, then a quiet burial.
Social/Privacy backlash+21
RIP
Google Latitude
2009–2013 · 4 yrs
Share your live location with friends. Folded into Maps after the privacy conversation caught up.
Maps & Local/Privacy backlash+2
RIP
Google Offers
2011–2013 · 2 yrs
Google’s Groupon clone, launched at the peak of daily-deal mania and gone with the bubble.
Commerce/Too early / too late+40
RIP
Google Reader
2005–2013 · 8 yrs
The RSS reader a generation of journalists and power users treated as a daily driver. Killed as RSS faded and Google chased social.
Media & Publishing/Low usage+39