Google Glass has yet to set the world alight, but that isn’t stopping other large technology companies from investing in the smart eyewear market.
The latest is Intel, paying $24.8m for a 30% stake in US firm Vuzix, which has made its name with devices aimed at consumers and workplaces – for example hospitals, warehouses and call centres – alike.
Vuzix says it will use the investment to speed up the development of its next line of “fashion-based wearable display products”, following the launch of its M100 device in 2014 through a partnership with another tech firm, Lenovo.
The investment came ahead of the CES show in Las Vegas, where Vuzix will show new products including its V-720, a pair of video eyeglasses that ships with Intel rival Nvidia’s Shield handheld gaming device.
Sales of Vuzix’s existing devices have been growing, albeit from a small base: the company reported revenues of $664.6k in the third quarter of 2014, up 96% year-on-year.
The investment in Vuzix is Intel’s latest bet on the wearables market, which it sees as the next big growth area for its chipsets. The company bought fitness-gadget maker Basis Science in March 2014.
“We want to be in this space quickly. We’re like to help drive it. Wearables is one of those things where if someone doesn’t show leadership and make it happen, the hype won’t happen,” Intel’s general manager of new devices, Mike Bell, told the Web Summit conference in November.
“We’re making a very big bet on wearables. We have announced we have a family of chipsets coming out in the next year that are wearables specific. It’s a pretty safe bet … Our plan is to partner with the best people, and have them teach us.”
Investing in Vuzix, with its plans for more fashion-focused smart glasses, fits into that strategy, with Bell adding at the conference that fashion will be an important part of taking wearables out of their current niche.
“We are trying to bring technology companies and fashion companies together,” said Bell.
• Google Glass review: useful, but overpriced and socially awkward
