"Competition for Google Glasses: Olympus announces MEG4.0"

Screengrab of Olympus’ Press Release

At last month’s Google I/O Conference, the search-engine/mobile giant displayed Smart Glasses, an innovation that looked set to make all those Sci-fi dreams come true. Google’s device, which was displayed with a flashy live sky-diving demo, puts everything from directions to texts to a video chat, photos, even online shopping, all on your glasses.

Google’s Glasses were sold to developers at $1500 and the company hopes to have a cheaper version of the devices out  for consumers by 2014. But the tech world is highly competitive and Google’s Smart Glasses are already facing competition.

According to CNet, Olympus today announced the launch of its own version of the smartglasses in a press release that was translated into English.

But what is Olympus offering with the MEG4.0? According to the press release, the Glasses are ultra-compact and wearable. Equipped with Bluetooth, these can connect to devices such as smartphones and wi-fi connections. Olympus also offers a compact yet lightweight device with low power consumption so that users can use it for a prolonged period.

The press release also says that the company is using their own “pupil division optical system see-through” which means that the display won’t obstruct natural visibility when a consumer is wearing them.

According to TechCrunch Olympus has had a patent for this device for some twenty years and has been doing the research on them for some time now.

Now Olympus might not have given any real-live demos or revealed the price of its device, but this announcement makes it clear that the next revolution in digital technology won’t be about touch but around our eyes and vision.

Also The NextWeb has a story on how Apple too is working on the same idea with something similar and how it has filed a patent for the same. According to the report, in Apple’s glasses“there are one or two LCDs used to project an image onto a user’s eyes. Displays like this normally do not project an image into the peripheral vision of a user, instead taking on the appearance of a ‘screen’ floating out in space.” So basically you’ll switch them on and it’ll be one giant screen before your eyes.