Google Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ may not be available to consumers

No Google Glass 2 for you. Photo: Google

No Google Glass 2 for you. Photo: Google

If you’re already excited about the second-generation Google Glass, it may be time to tone it down a little. A new report claims the upcoming “Enterprise Edition” won’t be available to general consumers, but exclusively to those certified as Glass for Work partners.

The original Google Glass wasn’t easy to obtain for consumers. You initially needed an invite to the “Explorer” program to get one, and when it did go on general sale, it was only available for a short period before Google decided to scrap it altogether.

Now 9to5Google reports the situation won’t change much for Google Glass version 2.

“While many fans of the product have hoped that Google will launch the device for the consumer market in some way, our sources say that quite the opposite is happening,” the report reads. “Google isn’t currently planning to distribute the next Glass directly to end-users at all.”

9to5 adds that Google is already testing its new device with Glass for Work startups — more than 100 are already out in the wild — and it is designing it specifically for those companies and their needs – rather than as another smart wearable for the general public.

Some of the tweaks Google is thought to have made for companies is adding support for the 5GHz Wi-Fi band, and improving battery life for longer use. However, Google has reportedly made few changes to its software “under the assumption that Glass for Work partners will be loading their proprietary software.”

It’s still unclear when Google might announce its Enterprise Edition Glass, but for now, at least, it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting out hands on it.