Google acquires the smart glasses manufacturing company North

Photo: Mitchell Luo

From: Unsplash

Google confirmed today in their blog that they have acquired North, the company which manufactures smart glasses, these glasses project text and images on the lens, North is a Canadian based company, It is reported that the acquisition has happened around the value of $182 million, the details about the acquisition was first revealed by The Globe and Mail.

North's smart glasses are not touch-supported, their first-generation smart glasses use the built-in mic and a ring on your finger to receive your commands. They can perform tasks like showing notification, messages, reminders, and navigation when you're using maps. Google has also recently purchased a popular smartwatch company FitBit, however, confirmation on this acquisition is still awaited.

Rick Osterloh, Senior VP of Devices & Services at Google, wrote in the blog post confirming the acquisition, he said that North will join Google's Kitchener-Waterloo team which was situated in Canada, on the other hand, North has also confirmed the news on their own blog, they said that they will stop the manufacturing of their existing products and their future products that were announced will not the see the light of the day.

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Since the North has started its operations, it has taken Intel's smart glass patents and worked on a neuro-muscular system called Myo, but besides these accomplishments, North lately has been facing some financial burdens, they have dropped 500 of their employees last year and the Globe and Mail company has said that the company only managed to sell around 1000 pairs of their first-gen smart glasses.

The company North has been looking for buyers since earlier this year, this acquisition will help Google's manufacturing and developing their own smart glasses, Google Glass.

Via, Android Authority.