Android on Google Glass

Did I mentioned I was told yesterday that Googlers already have some Android apps running on Project Glass?

I had an OMG moment when I was told that, then I remembered Sergey Brin’s “US-only” statement, and once again I felt like a mug spending over US$2500 in flights, hotel costs, and the ticket, and, over the course of IO, spending over 21 hours on a plane for a round trip and spending a week away from my office.

Yes, I heard the “regulation issues”, but the #NexusQ given out doesn’t have EC approval (which is the EU regulatory approval) yet I was given one of those to take away. If it really was a regulatory issue (which I have a lot of doubt over) why not take declarations of interest from developers so Google can see where the most interest is and work on getting regulatory approval in those countries?

Even after a day to think about it, and a nights sleep, refusing to even register declarations of interest still comes across to me as a “F'# you international developers, we only really care about the US”, and if that’s the case I’d expect to see some Glass-like products from non-Google sources appearing before the Google approved Glass devices are released in most countries in the same way we’ve seen Android based TV devices before Google TV will appear in most countries.

The way I feel at the moment I’d be inclined to write for them, even if they run an older version of an older version of Android, because if Project Glass is the revolutionary technology Google want us to believe then consumers will buy from other sources, and developers will write for non-Google versions if Google continues to fail to embrace those living outside the US.