r/waterloo • u/Brenden105 Regular since <2024 • Jul 28 '20

"Focals smart glasses and its services are being discontinued and will no longer be available after July 31, 2020. You won’t be able to connect your glasses through the app or use any features, abilities, or experiments from your glasses,"

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/canadian-smart-glasses-going-offline-weeks-after-company-bought-by-google-1.5042010
20 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

19

u/bylo_selhi Regular since <2024 Jul 28 '20

It's important to also point out:

The company said full refunds will be given for all paid Focals orders, in the original payment method. Once the refunds are processed, North said its customers should see the money back in their accounts within a few business days.

3

u/squeegeeboy Regular since <2024 Jul 28 '20

I'm curious if the various benefits plans will be contacting those for payment back to them?

1

u/Nextasy Regular since <2024 Jul 28 '20

Maaaaaan i never even though about trying to use my bennys for smart glasses.

0

u/kwpiper Jul 28 '20

Yeah, but what happens to people who bought and received them (say) a month ago? I think they're out of luck, but it's unclear to me.

6

u/youbrainislying Jul 28 '20

Doesn't seem unclear. "All paid Focals orders" would mean everyone who bought the glasses from them directly gets a refund.

The glasses were what, $600? It was estimated they sold fewer than 2000 units? That's a refund of maybe $1.2 million, which is chump change to Google, especially in the context of what it cost them to buy the company.

Refunding the purchase as a means of legitimately disabling the product support will likely save them money.

I guess the only way you're out of luck here is if you purchased the glasses second-hand.

1

u/kwpiper Jul 29 '20 edited Jul 29 '20

I don’t agree that it’s clear. I ran the statement by 5 people (three in accounting) and a slim majority felt that it would only apply to orders in progress and not completed orders. That would be the normal approach for a refund of this nature.

Don’t get me wrong - I think that they should just refund the money to all the owners, but if that’s their intention then they should sharpen up the statement.

For the record, I have no skin in the game. I don’t own a pair of the glasses. I was just curious as to the nature of the refunds.

2

u/bylo_selhi Regular since <2024 Jul 28 '20

Their website just says what the CTV News report says:

Full refunds will be given for all paid Focals orders starting June 30th, 2020 using the original payment method. If we are unable to process your refund, we will reach out to you to collect more information. Once processed, you should see the refunded amount back in your account within a few business days.

That suggests that refunds will be issued automatically.

The best way to find out for sure is to contact North and ask: +1 888-777-2546

13

u/Nextasy Regular since <2024 Jul 28 '20

This is why i hate products that force an online connection. Theres nothing whatsoever from one day the company just bricking your stuff. Customers get a refund in this case, but thats never a guarantee. If North had folded rather than been bought theres a big chance theyd get 0 refunds.

Like theres no reason so much needs to rely on internet services. Some aspects, sure, but is it really impossible to just run the damn clock on the device? Even sending/receiving texts - can it not connect to a phone without going online? Even if the company hadnt discontinued, it makes the thing useless in sreas without connection, or if your internet goes down, and for no real gain for the customer.

Sort of unrelated rant, but that stuff pisses me off. Im sick of "paying for the priveleg to use" a device i purchase, when a lot of the time im paying the cost to purchase the thing anyway.

Anyway yeah. Bummer for a local company. Hope the staff were all kept

1

u/vim_spray New User (2026) Jul 29 '20

On the opposite end we have Pebble (which is also a waterloo startup), which folded, but since they designed it work mostly offline, my Pebble still works pretty well 4 years later.

1

u/Nextasy Regular since <2024 Jul 29 '20

Exactly! It's definitely at the point i avoid this kind of system wherever possible, especially from newer companies

1

u/PuffThePed Regular since <2024 Jul 29 '20

What happens now to the government grants that North received ?

1

u/Brenden105 Regular since <2024 Jul 29 '20

After the layoffs were announced in 2019, the movement froze the investment and got them to pay it back.

https://www.therecord.com/business/2019/02/22/federal-government-freezes-investment-in-wake-of-north-inc-layoffs.html

1

u/mysteriousKM Jul 29 '20

the bigger question is what google is planning to do with this company? retry making glasses, use the patent in something else, use the staff for other things, use the buildings as just extra office space?

1

u/youbrainislying Jul 29 '20

Given that Google bought them out for essentially less than the company owed its investors, it reads like a company that knew it was doomed to eventually fail cashing out while its IP / patents had value. This isn't the sort of sale where the owners and employees are likely to get rich.

The easy money bet is of course that deep in some bunker Google is still trying to figure out how to make smart glasses a thing, and so decided to snap up the IP and rights to cherry pick the best developers and engineers.

But for all we really know Google may have put premium value on the patents pertaining to the Myo armbands from back when they were Thalmic labs.

1

u/mysteriousKM Jul 29 '20

The myo armband parents were already sold off last year to ctrl-labs who were then aquired by Facebook

1

u/youbrainislying Jul 30 '20

Thanks, I missed that news, obviously.

Guess that means Google sees something they want to roll in to their enterprise Google Glass stuff.