Google is all set to manufacture its high-tech Glass specs on home turf, according to an FT report on Wednesday.
The futuristic eyewear will apparently run off a production line in Santa Clara, California, with manufacturing giant Foxconn setting up and operating the facility.
As the FT’s report points out, keeping the manufacturing process virtually right next door to its Mountain View headquarters would appear to make a lot of sense for Google – Glass is a brand new, highly technical product that may need design adjustments, especially in the early stages. Sergey Brin and others directly involved in the project could more easily oversee the manufacturing process with the facility just down the street. It’d sure beat a 13-hour flight to one of Foxconn’s factories in China.
While Google hasn’t yet confirmed the news – the FT cites “people familiar with the company’s plans” as its source – if it turns out to be correct, it would certainly help to highlight President Obama’s call for US companies to bring home manufacturing jobs from overseas.
In an interview with NBC last December, Apple boss Tim Cook promised that from this year a line of Mac computers will be manufactured in the US, saying that the tech giant had invested more than $100 million in the project.
As for Google’s supposed Santa Clara factory, its first job will be to push out 8,000 Glass devices for winners of a recent contest.
However, the Web giant will be hoping Glass doesn’t suffer the same fate as the product involved in its first home-based manufacturing effort, the Nexus Q. The company last year abandoned production of the media streaming device soon after it hit the market, without giving any clear reason. Can’t quite see that happening with Glass, though.
The highly-anticipated futuristic eyewear is expected to hit the market later this year or, more likely, early next, with a $1500 price tag.
