- A new report claims Alphabet is in late-stage discussions to acquire smart glasses maker North.
- The deal, which is said to be priced at $180 million, would see North "stripped for parts."
- North reportedly struggled to sell much of its first product, which it took off the market within a year of launch. The company was preparing to launch an improved second-generation version.
- Do you work at Google or North? You can contact this reporter securely using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or encrypted email (hslangley@protonmail.com).
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A new report from the Globe and Mail claims that Google parent company Alphabet is in discussions to acquire Canadian startup North, maker of the Focals by North smart glasses.
According to the report, discussions of an acquisition are in their "final stages" and would see North snapped up for around $180 million.
Neither North nor Google returned Business Insider's requests for comment.
North has struggled to make much headway since it launched its glasses in 2019. The Canadian government withdrew an $18 million dollar investment in the company after North laid off 150 employees, just weeks after the launch of its first product.
The Globe and Mail report, citing anonymous sources, claims North saw poor sales with some of its retail locations going "days without a single sale." The report also claims that North struggled to fit Black and Asian customers with their glasses, yet continued to move ahead and sell the product.
North stopped selling its first-generation glasses by the end of 2019 and has since been teasing a new iteration of the smart glasses.
As for Google, the company famously took a swing at smart glasses with the much-maligned Google Glass. The offering was later repositioned as an enterprise product that Google now sells to businesses, but beyond its AR efforts with smartphones, the company has not signaled a return to consumer smartglasses.
Acquiring North doesn't meant it will do so, but suggests it sees this as an important space. Apple is rumored to be working on its own smart glasses, which could be ready to launch as soon as 2022, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
The Globe and Mail report names Alphabet, not Google, as the buyer, however its sources also claim North will be "stripped for parts," suggesting it's more likely that we will see North's technology rolled into Google's AR and VR efforts, rather than existing as an Alphabet moonshot company.
If the deal goes through, it's another signal that the future of computing belongs to the tech giants with vast resources, rather than the startups.
Do you work at Google or North? You can contact this reporter securely using encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 628-228-1836) or encrypted email (hslangley@protonmail.com).
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