Google’s wearable computing glasses will be available to consumers by late 2014, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
On Tuesday, Google also released four new frames for Google Glass to appeal to the wider range of customers upon release. Aside from its basic capabilities of shooting photos, videos and receiving notifications, other Glass feature such as mini-games are also on the way.
The consumer release date was revealed through the announcement of Google’s deal with vision-care company VSP Global to offer prescription lenses and subsidized frames for Glass, as well as to train eye-care professionals on how to fit the device. Other manufacturers including Rochester Optical are already producing Glass lenses.
Google Glass has been available for developer testing since 2012 through the Google Glass Explorer program, which has evolved over time as new features and developer opportunities have been made available.
(Related: A view of Glass from developers’ eyes)
“Google Glass will be the most robust trend in wearable technology,” said Ted Bahr, conference director of Wearables DevCon and president of BZ Media.
Wearables DevCon, taking place on March 5-7 in San Francisco, will be an opportunity for developers to become experts on Google Glass, with classes, tutorials and speakers on topics such as API and GDK design, Glassware UI design, WearScript, and Glass app publishing.
The conference will also feature a Wearables DevCon keynote speech from Jenny Murphy, Google Glass developer programs engineer.
