Google taps former fashion executive to head Glass team

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2014
Apple isn't the only company hiring from the fashion industry in anticipation of the growth of wearable electronics, as Google has hired a former executive from Calvin Klein, Coach and Gap to head up its head-mounted Glass project.


Google's new Glass head Ivy Ross.


Ivy Ross introduced herself as the new head of Google Glass on the product's official Google+ account on Thursday, revealing that she will officially take over the position next Monday, May 19. Ross's wide-spanning career includes positions at Swatch, Bausch & Lomb, and Mattel, while her most recent stint was as marketing director at Art.com.

"With your help," Ross wrote, "I look forward to answering the seemingly simple, but truly audacious questions Glass poses: Can technology be something that frees us up and keeps us in the moment, rather than taking us out of it? Can it help us look up and out at the world around us, and the people who share it with us?"

Ross's background in the fashion industry is significant, as Google Glass faces significant hurdles in public adoption, with concerns not only about privacy and the ability to covertly record video and take pictures, but also looking "geeky" while wearing a head-mounted display.

Glass


Apple also seems to have fashion concerns in mind for its own secretive future products, chief among them expected to be a so-called "iWatch" the company is rumored to be working on. Ahead of an anticipated unveiling later this year, Apple has hired a veritable "dream team" of experts from the fashion industry, as well as health and fitness fields.

In one of hits highest profile hires, Apple tapped the former CEO of Burberry, Angela Ahrends, to take over its retail operations. Ahrendts started at Apple late last month.

As for Glass, Google announced earlier this year that it had partnered with Luxottica, which is the maker of premium, luxury and sports eyewear, to build more attractive versions of Glass in the future. The company is responsible for eyewear for popular brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Armani, Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Tory Burch, and Versace.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 55
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Copy. Cats.
  • Reply 2 of 55
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Looking outside the tech field for wearables? Where does Google management get such great ideas? Maybe Microsoft or Facebook?
  • Reply 3 of 55
    dnd0psdnd0ps Posts: 253member
    Monkey see, monkey do.
  • Reply 4 of 55
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member

    I also love how that girl looking on in the background is all like "boy, that makes him look even more like a dork than I thought was possible".

  • Reply 5 of 55
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    jkichline wrote: »
    Copy. Cats.

    Google is at the intersection of liberal arts and technology. /s
  • Reply 6 of 55
    daveinpublicdaveinpublic Posts: 633member
    They're copying at a rapid click.

    I can imagine her first thought when seeing google glasses....
  • Reply 7 of 55
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,040member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jkichline View Post

     

    I also love how that girl looking on in the background is all like "boy, that makes him look even more like a dork than I thought was possible".


    And the woman who is fitting him is saying, "Your assimilation into the Borg is complete."

  • Reply 8 of 55
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Maybe she can make Borg implants fashionable. A little color, a little design. Maybe a promotion with Bentley. Something to sell us on the idea of wearing that prosthetic eye replacement for surreptitious data collection is not so creepy.
  • Reply 9 of 55
    jinglesthulajinglesthula Posts: 239member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jkichline View Post

     

    I also love how that girl looking on in the background is all like "boy, that makes him look even more like a dork than I thought was possible".


     

    this.  Also lol @ the picture caption "Google's new Glass head".

     

    Though a good move for Google - Glass has been in sore need of some fashion help.  Reminds me of UI designed by software engineers instead of a real visual design/UX team.

  • Reply 10 of 55
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member

    Guys... this is a real life look at how girls will react to seeing you wear Google Glass.

  • Reply 11 of 55
    isteelersisteelers Posts: 738member
    Maybe she can make a line of Google Glasses like Elton John's collection.
  • Reply 12 of 55
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    They are hoping glancing up off into space uttering 'huh?' while you interact with people will become the new cool. They have their work cut out, that's for sure.

  • Reply 13 of 55
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jkichline View Post

     

    Guys... this is a real life look at how girls will react to seeing you wear Google Glass.


    Don't worry. It is likely that many AI readers already get those reactions without Google Glass.

  • Reply 14 of 55
    wattylerwattyler Posts: 1member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jkichline View Post



    Copy. Cats.

    When Apple has an actual wearable product to copy, and when Google's existing products start to closely resemble Apple's products, then you can accuse Google of being copy cats. Until then, Google is the company that actually has products (that are not selling) and an SDK for developers to make even more products (that will not sell either). Until that happens, then Android sycophants will have more ammo in claiming that Apple is copying Google by entering the wearables market that Google created in the first place. 

     

    Google and their partners learned their lesson from the flop of the first round of wearables. The Moto 360 and the LG G both look much better than the Samsung Galaxy Gear, and the Android Wear concept watches look better still. So they were already in the process of making wearables that are actually attractive enough for people to want to wear before now. 

     

    Of course, Apple is going to come along and make wearables whose hardware and software are much better and - just as important - actually have a practical use that people need or at least want, and Apple will sell them by the hundreds of millions at very high margins. When that happens Google and its partners will copy it to the extent that patent law will allow. Then you will be able to gripe. 

  • Reply 15 of 55
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    It won't help. Nothing will help. For people who already wear glasses Glass will have to be nearly invisible to other people to be acceptable. For the non-glasses wearing public, it will never be widely accepted. People who are wearing Glass look deranged.
  • Reply 16 of 55
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member

    GoogleInsider...

  • Reply 17 of 55
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    Childishly bashing the innovators- are we? Rich.
  • Reply 18 of 55
    gadgetcanadav2gadgetcanadav2 Posts: 684member

    Head Glasshole

  • Reply 19 of 55
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    SpamSandwich wrote: »
    It won't help. Nothing will help. For people who already wear glasses Glass will have to be nearly invisible to other people to be acceptable. For the non-glasses wearing public, it will never be widely accepted. People who are wearing Glass look deranged.
    to me being less conspicuous is even more scary. Then you really don't know if someone is secretly filming you or taking a picture of you.
  • Reply 20 of 55
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,040member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post



    It won't help. Nothing will help. For people who already wear glasses Glass will have to be nearly invisible to other people to be acceptable. For the non-glasses wearing public, it will never be widely accepted. People who are wearing Glass look deranged.

    It might be a generational thing.

     

    While Bluetooth cellphone earpieces are now quite commonplace, they are still dorky. To me, they will never ever be cool.

     

    There was a period of time after their debut that some people took to wearing them all the time on the street. Apparently it was a passing fad, since I don't see them often on people who are not having active telephone conversations.

     

    In time, Google Glass may end up being mostly used in specific context-oriented (mostly work) settings, like airplane pilots in a cockpit, physicians in the operating room, on an inventory analyst in a warehouse.

     

    When you wear a device like Google Glass or a Bluetooth earpiece, the implication is that the world around you may be less important than what that device is transmitting.

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