A few days ago, at a start-up event in Hyderabad, almost everyone made a beeline to check out what a young entrepreneur was wearing on his face.
They wore it, too, and amidst oohs and aahs, suddenly realised that they were holding a piece of the future -right here in our city and suddenly, 18-year-old 'innovator' and TED speaker, Evan Luthra, and his Google Glass '2.0', were the stars of the event.
DC caught up with New Delhi-based Luthra to ask him about Glass, first impressions and yes, the city's interest in the project.
"To Hyderabad, I wore the second version of 'GG'. This model has earbuds and it's much softer on the skull and ears. It was shipped to my Indian address on November 12 but then there was trouble rightaway at New Delhi airport. My assistant and I had to make at least five trips to the airport to convince Customs that 'it was not military technology'. I really hadn't expected such problems but by November 19, I had the device in my hands."
That date is crucial because Luthra is now the 'first Indian to have received the Google Glass on an Indian address'.
Previously, Google was only sending it to potential "explorers" in the United States.
But shortly after receiving his pair of Glass, Luthra got serious about possibilities and then set off to Hyderabad (yes, he was stopped at the airport here too). "I was here to participate in the Startup-Weekend Battle but I had another plan for the city because, I want to be the Number 1 publisher of apps before the Glass comes out into the market. So, I had to start quickly. I came to connect with an investor in Hyderabad and had come here to talk about our project. The talks went well. In India, app development is cheap (Luthra first made apps for Google when he was 16), and I know the Glass has potential." While, Luthra was lucky, 28year-old city-based techie, Varunkumar Nagarajan had a rather unfortunate experience with Project Glass.
"GG was only open to US citizens and I applied through my New York address as I had been selected through a Google competition. They had opened the window in June this year, but I got news of it only a few weeks before that and I couldn’t buy tickets on time. Finally, when I made it to NY in August, I met with Google officials and the customer care even agreed to give me one. But when I reached the shop, talks fell through again." But Nagarajan has kept in touch with Glass customer care.
"I hope to have it soon — they have put me on the pool list." Google Glass is also just a few months away from launch, amidst much debate.
"It can be distracting and it isn’t stylish either. But many firms are working at accessorising the device further,” says
Nagarajan, adding, "many complain of battery life and you will need a mobile app to get GG working and even that, can’t be installed in India." Luthra too, had a few pointers.
"Yes, there are a lot of privacy concerns, not just in India. Glass is even banned in many US restaurants. Just imagine, you are just randomly clicking photographs without the knowledge of the person. And I can even do face-recognition. These are privacy concerns." But whatever is the case, Glass has captured the world’s imagination.
And despite the controversies and the doubts, there’s a slight chance that in 2014, you could pass by someone wearing the device, right here in Hyderabad.
Because Evan Luthra’s startup, Teleportme, involving Google Glass, took home the second prize at the city’s recent ‘Startup Battle’. Wonder what’s cooking.
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