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The first app for Google Glass appears as API documentation is released

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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If you’re one of the lucky few to be getting a Google Glass device, you can already download the accompanying Android app MyGlass, and visit the setup wizard web app Glass.

MyGlass lets you manage and configure Google Glass, and allows your phone to work in sync with Glass. The app can access authenticated accounts on your device, send SMS messages, and features location services which are essential to how Glass works. The web app is for first time setup of the device.

The documentation for the ‘Mirror API’, which is what developers will use to write apps for Glass, is interesting. It reveals that currently developers will not be able to charge for apps, nor include advertising. It also adopts an Apple-like approach to its ecosystem: software for Glass will only be distributed through official Google channels, unlike the more free attitude taken with Android.

These two factors, unusual for Google, may change in the future. It’s easy to see how more control over the Glass experience makes sense in its infancy. It’s also hard to imagine that ads will never make their way onto Glass devices.

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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