Google Glass could be a $3B-per-year cash cow
An analyst estimates the wearable tech could be worth $3.27 billion in the next couple of years due to increased searches, better ad targeting, and app sales.
While Google Glass is currently a novelty product for select users, it could earn a good deal of cash for Google within the next few years.
According to AllThingsD, which spoke with financial analyst Robert S. Peck of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, the wearable tech could be worth as much as $3.27 billion to Google in 2017, which is more than 3.7 percent of Google's estimated $86.4 billion total revenue for that year.
The big bucks will reportedly come from additional searches on Glass, enhanced ad targeting, and app sales, according to AllThingsD. Peck estimates that Glass users will search twice as much per day as they do now with other devices and that Glass ads will be better targeted and more expensive.
Google Glass is the company's foray into a wearable computer or smartphone. The device comes in the form of eyeglasses that can record videos, take photos, chat, get directions, look up facts on the Web, and more.
Google started shipping the $1,500 Explorer Edition prototypes in April and the device is expected to arrive on the market for the general public later this year. Google also plans to launch an app store serving Glass users in 2014. By 2017, Peck estimates that 64,500 devices will have been sold and the price per unit will be as low as $349.
"If there is one point investors should take away from Glass, it is that the technology is unique because it enables a person to perform actions while keeping their head up and continuing their first-person perspective," Peck said.