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I'm in my late thirties and was among the first generation of daily cell phone owners once the bulky bricks were replaced by flip phones. I don't recall the sam

I'm in my late thirties and was among the first generation of daily cell phone owners once the bulky bricks were replaced by flip phones. I don't recall the same reactions that you do. There are still a lot of people who don't own or regularly use a cell phone and others who prefer not to be reachable all the time, that hasn't really changed. Glass's popularity in the consumer market at some point in the possible future will hinge on whatever conversation a future generation has about the expectations of privacy in public spaces. Until that conversation happens, Glass isn't really viable as a consumer product.

jacquesm 11y ago
That's because your cell phone at the time didn't come with a camera that faced the people you were talking to in real life (rather than on the other end of the phone or just facing your way). I do remember being weirded out the first time someone walking parallel to me was talking to an ear-piece (out of sight) and I thought he was addressing me, hilarity ensued and he showed me his cell phone which I thought was absolutely wonderful (Motorola flip phone).
- thaumaturgy 11y ago
  Those earpieces still weird me out a little. :-) But I keep a good humor about being in a supermarket full of cyborgs.
ghshephard 11y ago
Re: "There are still a lot of people who don't own or regularly use a cell phone and others who prefer not to be reachable all the time" Well, I'll grant you that there are still some people - but I think it's a stretch to say, a lot of people. For example, in Singapore, it's inconceivable to not have a cell phone. Indeed, a ton of the businesses, banking, etc.. presume you have a cell phone for their two-factor authentication.
- thaumaturgy 11y ago
  I was thinking primarily of older people; the odds of owning a smartphone decrease as you go into the 50+ age brackets, and cell phone ownership in general falls off as you go into 65+ (http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fac...). That Pew page states that 10% of American adults still don't own a cell phone, but of those who do, I would expect there's a healthy percentage for whom the cell phone is infrequently used as an emergency contact system, or just-in-case for road trips, or for the occasional phone call. (They don't have numbers on usage patterns though.) I couldn't hazard a guess at what worldwide usage looks like. I'm surprised every time I hear about the creative ways that countries I would least expect to be heavy cell phone users are using cheap cells for things like currency exchange (http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/11/cashless-africa-kenyas-smash-success-with-mobile-money.html http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/11/cashless-africa-kenyas-smash-...).

jacquesm 11y ago

That's because your cell phone at the time didn't come with a camera that faced the people you were talking to in real life (rather than on the other end of the phone or just facing your way). I do remember being weirded out the first time someone walking parallel to me was talking to an ear-piece (out of sight) and I thought he was addressing me, hilarity ensued and he showed me his cell phone which I thought was absolutely wonderful (Motorola flip phone).

thaumaturgy 11y ago
Those earpieces still weird me out a little. :-) But I keep a good humor about being in a supermarket full of cyborgs.

ghshephard 11y ago

Re: "There are still a lot of people who don't own or regularly use a cell phone and others who prefer not to be reachable all the time" Well, I'll grant you that there are still some people - but I think it's a stretch to say, a lot of people. For example, in Singapore, it's inconceivable to not have a cell phone. Indeed, a ton of the businesses, banking, etc.. presume you have a cell phone for their two-factor authentication.

thaumaturgy 11y ago
I was thinking primarily of older people; the odds of owning a smartphone decrease as you go into the 50+ age brackets, and cell phone ownership in general falls off as you go into 65+ (http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/ http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fac...). That Pew page states that 10% of American adults still don't own a cell phone, but of those who do, I would expect there's a healthy percentage for whom the cell phone is infrequently used as an emergency contact system, or just-in-case for road trips, or for the occasional phone call. (They don't have numbers on usage patterns though.) I couldn't hazard a guess at what worldwide usage looks like. I'm surprised every time I hear about the creative ways that countries I would least expect to be heavy cell phone users are using cheap cells for things like currency exchange (http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/11/cashless-africa-kenyas-smash-success-with-mobile-money.html http://www.cnbc.com/2013/11/11/cashless-africa-kenyas-smash-...).