Sergey Brin’s brilliant strategy to make Google Glass seem normal: Never take them off
Since Google launched its reality-augmenting Project Glass in June, it’s been pretty much impossible find a picture of Google co-founder Sergei Brin in which he’s not wearing the futuristic eye-piece. Last night’s Vanity Fair Oscar party was no exception. Which means 150 of Hollywood’s most famous and beautiful people, from Natalie Portman to JJ Abrams, got to look Brin in the eye as a tiny display glowed just above his right pupil, as if that were something totally normal that they should just get used to.
I’m a self-made cyborg whose car drives itself. What have you done lately? AP/Eric Risberg
We don’t even know what to call this thing yet—is it a Glass, a pair of Glasses, or a pair of Glass?—and yet he’s already been spotted wearing it, or them, on the New York City subway and at the signing of California’s legislation authorizing (Google’s) driverless cars.
I’m sure I dropped that virtual document around here somewhere… AP/Seth Wenig
He wore them while hanging out with Diane Von Furstenberg, at New York City’s Fashion Week.
No need to introduce yourself; it’s much more efficient for me to scan your LinkedIn profile as you clear your throat. AP/Jeff Chiu
And, naturally, he had them on at the announcement of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Using your own products is standard practice in in technology companies that want to remain competitive—it’s called eating your own dog food or, more optimistically, drinking your own champagne. But Brin’s experiment in public, always-on Google Glass(es) takes this to a whole new level. Intentionally or not, Brin is constantly projecting the image of a rich, famous, vigorous alpha-geek whom other might want to imitate—all the way down to never taking off the Google Glass.
This trends is only going to accelerate. Ostensible competitor Mark Zuckerberg has declared that he “can’t wait” to get his hands on Glass. For Google’s sake, let’s hope this goes better than the last fashion trend Brin tried to start—wearing “five-finger” toe shoes to professional events.
More from Quartz
