Original Google Glass hotwords included ‘Pew pew pew’ and ‘Go Go Glass’

Using Google Glass almost entirely revolves around using one simple voice command – “OK Glass” – but how did Google decide on that particular trigger? The Next Web has shared the story of the origin of the phrase from Amanda Rosenberg, the marketing manager behind Glass. As it turns out, Google were testing several different phrases, but ended up with “OK Glass” thanks to a happy accident.

Rosenberg came up with the phrase after attending dinner with the product manager for Glass, Mat Balez. Balez mentioned that the Glass team had been trying to come up with a “hotword” to active the device, then going on to ask Rosenberg for any suggestions. The first thing that popped into the marketing manager’s head was “OK Glass”, with the team adopting the official phrase shortly afterwards.

That wasn’t the first trigger under consideration, though. According to Balez, other suggestions included “Listen up Glass”, “Go Go Glass”, “Device, please”, and “Pew pew pew”. That last one would have been a fantastic way to active the wearable headset, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

It may still be awhile before you’ll be able to say “OK Glass” yourself, though. Google has said in the past that it hopes to release a consumer version of Glass before the end of the year, but former CEO Eric Schmidt said back in April that the wearable unit was “probably a year-ish away”. There’s no word yet on what Google plans to charge for the final version of Glass either, with the Explorer Edition commanding a hefty $1,500 (around £986) price tag.