Google Brings Hardware Updates to the Glass, Starts Wide-Scale Production

Google’s most ambitious project since driver-less cars has seen a few changes on the hardware side.

These new updates were announced today by Google through a Google+ post. Company said that the original beta hardware for Glass has been updated and the developers who were part of the Explorer program (first version of Google Glass is called Explorer) will be able to swap their older models and can invite further 3 of their acquaintances to buy the $1500 developer version of the product.

The most prominent update for the Google Glass includes an optional mono earbud which connects to the Glass’ microUSB port. Of course, the bone-conduction speaker has gone nowhere either.

The new Glass will also work with a wider variety of prescription glasses and shades.

Google said that all majority of updates (in hardware and software) came through feedback from early users/developers.

Google has also reportedly started the mass production of the Google Glass.

According to a new report by Financial Times, Google is also making strides in the production of Glass’ hardware. This recent development will allow Google to manufacture ‘tens of thousands’ of units in the coming few months.

Smartphone Sales Surpass 250 Million Units in Q3 2013, with Nokia Back in the Top 3

Number of smartphone shipments exceeded a quarterly record of 250 million in Q3 2013, representing a y-o-y growth of almost 49% from Q3 2012, and q-o-q growth of 10%, said a report published by Juniper.

According to the report, Samsung now accounts for a third of all smartphones shipped with an estimated 85 million smartphones – a record for the company.

The iPhone accounted for 1 in 7 smartphone shipments during Q3 2013, representing a quarterly growth of 8% from Q2 2013.

These top end players are expected to continue to witness impressive growth next quarter due to seasonality, however, the report said, there can be steady decline in growth thereafter especially in maturing markets.

Nokia shipped a record 8.8 million Lumia devices and nearly 6 million Asha smartphones in Q3 2013, together exceeding LG for the second time this year. LG maintained its smartphone shipment pace compared to the previous quarter, shipping another 12 million in Q3 2013, representing a 24% increases year-over-year.

BlackBerry’s recent results – which run to a different financial schedule – are expected to see them ship just under 4 million smartphones in Q3 2013. In the three months to the end of August 2010, BlackBerry clocked up some 12 million smartphone shipments and more than $4.6 billion in revenues; in its most recent quarter, smartphone shipments had fallen to a paltry 3.7 million against revenues of less than $1.6 billion; the costs of sales were now exceeding the revenues earned.

Huawei, ZTE and LG together shipped over 37 million smartphones in Q3 2013, accounting for a combined market share of 15%.

Juniper report notes that increasingly vendors will be required to anticipate customers ‘future needs’, whilst at the same time creating ‘new needs’ that customers will find desirable. This will become of paramount importance as new customers become a scarce resource and vendor churn becomes a major factor.