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Comment by ry0ohki | Hacker News Reader

Just to clarify you are not winning anything free here (still an amazing opportunity though):

"Explorers will each need to pre-order a Glass Explorer Edition for $1500 plus tax and attend a special pick-up experience, in person"

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They need people with cash, otherwise their users won't be able to afford all the horses, planes and balloons necessary to enjoy the full Google Glass experience.

You may be right, no one wants their tech demo to be someone standing in line to cash checks.

On the other hand, a shoulder surfing app is a concept unique to Google glasses. ( Since taking out an iPhone is too obvious).

Apparently they're seeking explorers financed by king Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Compete for the amazing opportunity to give us $1,500 of your money!

Is the same thing as people trying to buy a Ferrari. Demand vastly exceeds supply so they will have no problem finding people that will think nothing of spending that amount of money. And frankly speaking $1,500 is not a lot of money. If you are poor or stingy I guess it is but at this point in time they are not targeting cheapskates.

speak for yourself buddy....$1500 is still a big slice of pie to some of us

> …Is the same thing as people trying to buy a Ferrari. Demand vastly exceeds supply

I think the normal idea under these circumstances is to increase the price until the demand meets the supply.

So they increased it from $0 to $1500. Sounds reasonable.

So, comrade, it costs $0 to produce a Google Glass?

Probably not but developing it wasn't free.

I'm starting to think what we really need around here is an English proficiency test.

My bad, only skimmed the comment.

Are you implying that they should have priced it higher? I mean, if we're going to go by "what we paid to produce it" rather than "what people previously paid for it", it should probably start at $10k.

I'm not sure what conversation you're having with yourself. I'm just pointing out that the time-honored capitalist response to demand outstripping supply is raising prices rather than having contests.

I was with you until you mentioned poor/cheapskate. How's life in that bubble of yours?

Broke and programming everyday on a project I'm working on. And with no income for quite some time. I'm down to two sets of pants and some of my clothes have holes. My sneakers certainly have plenty of holes. My office is the local library. Life is great!

Let us know how it turns out!

Many people who make millions or billions still pause at paying more than $1 for a cup of coffee.

You don't become a billionaire by wasting your money.

While there's some truth to that, you also don't achieve success by being penny wise and pound foolish, which that kind of thinking often leads to.

Couple that with the cost of getting yourself to one of the required meeting locations...which can easily run somebody as much as the cost of the device. Some of us do live in flyover country. Though that's probably our fault and not Google's ;-).

That cuts out a sizable demographic from "exploring" it.

This is open to everyone, right? So what was the point of signing up for Glass at last year's I/O? The only thing that came out of that were:

1) A hangout that confused everyone involved because nobody was leading it

2) An API training event that had extremely limited places

My block of etched glass appears to stand for very little.

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