Google Glass is set to manufacture its much hyped Google Glass wearable platform right at home in the United States, according to a new report from The Financial Times. Citing a source close to the project, FT said Google has partnered with Foxconn to assemble the headsets on home soil in Santa Clara, Calif. Google will apparently source most components from Asia with final assembly completed in the U.S.:
Google is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer better known as Foxconn, to assemble the sci-fi headset at a facility in Santa Clara, California, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.
The report claimed a “few thousand” Google Glass units will be produced by the California factory “in the coming weeks.” Google’s reasoning for bringing the manufacturing stateside? According to FT, it will allow Google to have better control over the complex and small-scale operation while becoming a “high-profile example” of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
The report also said it will allow Google’s engineers to “be closely involved with the production process and provide more opportunities for last-minute fixes and for personal customization.”
The small scale, high cost and complexity of the project’s initial run makes it practical to base manufacturing operations near the search company’s Silicon Valley headquarters, according to people briefed on the plans.
The company’s last major attempt to bring the assembly of one of its products to the U.S. was with the Nexus Q streaming orb, a product it quietly killed off just weeks after being unveiled.
Google announced yesterday it will begin sending out invites to winners of its #ifihadglass contest in the coming weeks, while press and developers who signed up for the program at Google I/O last year are also still waiting to drop $1,500 on Glass.
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