Google Glass rival for enterprise emerges

The announcement of Google Glass back in 2012 has sparked a string of smart glasses all hoping to become significant rivals to Google's offering, with the latest contender hailing from startup Atheer Labs.

The company has unveiled the One headset, which is said to be targeting enterprise customers specifically due to a perceived demand for wearable technology in certain fields.

Soulaiman Itani, co-founder and Chief Scientist at Atheer Labs, told Business Insider: "The PC started with accountants, [and] Blackberry [phones] started with executives that needed to share email.

Itani reportedly believes wearable technology and devices like Google Glass and their own headset are the future of the computer, hoping to eventually launch them to the mainstream.

"The challenge with consumers is that [they] want something that works in all situations."

The company is planning to roll the glasses out to various industries first, including to hospitals and construction. The headsets would each be catered towards the field in which they were to be used.

Atheer's One glasses differ from Google Glass in several ways, with the display resembling a tablet view rather than the small panel sported by Google's device. Users can interact with the display using hand gestures.

Due to the more obtrusive nature of One, however, the prospect for 3D becomes much greater. In the demo experienced by Business Insider, it was possible to view a 3D diagram of parts of the human body, moving and interacting with it via corresponding hand gestures.

Atheer Labs' device was first demoed at AllThingsD's D11 conference in 2013, and funding for the One headset through Indiegogo hit more than $200,000 soon afterwards.

Caroline Preece

Caroline has been writing about technology for more than a decade, switching between consumer smart home news and reviews and in-depth B2B industry coverage. In addition to her work for IT Pro and Cloud Pro, she has contributed to a number of titles including Expert Reviews, TechRadar, The Week and many more. She is currently the smart home editor across Future Publishing's homes titles.

You can get in touch with Caroline via email at caroline.preece@futurenet.com.