Now for sale on Craigslist: Google Glass
Google's terms of sale might prohibit Google Glass owners from pawning off their headsets, but that hasn't stopped one from trying.
A Craigslist ad is perhaps not the most subtle of ways to go about doing things, and that includes selling your Google Glass.
One Craigslister, based in San Francisco's East Bay according to the ad, is selling his or her pair of Google Glass Explorer Edition, something that's expressly forbidden by the Glass Terms of Sale.
Violating a product's sale terms is practically a rite of passage, from ripping the safety tag off a mattress to ripping CDs and DVDs. What makes this case unusual is that the Craigslister is clearly trying to make a buck: this pair of Glass, perhaps more valuable because of its rarity on Craigslist, is going for four times the market cost of $1,500.
A Google representative told CNET that the company wants Glass owners to use them as they see fit and that Google doesn't "plan on bricking any Explorer's device."
With photos of the box and bagged Glass, the offering appears to be real. What's not clear is whether the Glass are functional. This could also be a scam, aiming to reel in someone who just can't wait for next year's expected commercial release date for Glass.
The poster has suggested that the way around the problem of the Glass being bound to a personal account is that they have already been connected to an "empty" account, which the seller would then transfer to the buyer.
The ad for the gray Glass, "shale" in Google's marketing argot, has been revised. When it was originally reported on May 17 by TechHive, the Glass were being sold for $6,500 and the ad was a day old. Perhaps the poster was hoping to avoid scrutiny, with so many Google acolytes gathered at the annual I/O conference in San Francisco.
The price has dropped to $6,000, apparently since Tuesday, which was when the ad was last edited. At that rate, the Glass will be free by the end of July.
That could be a good thing, because Google's clearly a fan of the gift economy. Though selling your Glass Explorer Edition goes against Google's vision of a Glass-wearing future, the sale agreement explicitly does say that you can give Glass away.
The person who posted the Craigslist ad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.