Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has commented that he "can't wait" to get his hands on Google Glass, the augmented reality glasses likely to be released by Google in 2014.
According to Forbes, Zuckerberg made the comment on Wednesday Feb. 20 at the University of California, San Francisco's Mission Bay medical campus. Zuckerberg met with Google cofounder and special projects head Sergey Brin at the campus in support of the recently announced Breakthrough Prize For Life Sciences. However, the meeting evolved into a more casual discussion of Google Glass in a corner of one of Genentech Hall's auditoriums, during which the two discussed the product.
"I can't wait to get my own," Zuckerberg said as Brin adjusted a pair of the glasses on Zuckerberg's head. Zuckerberg then tried voice commands with the device, repeating the words "O.K. Glass" several times. Afterward Brin scrolled through various screens while Zuckerberg asked questions. "How do you look out from this without looking awkward?" he asked. "You know, how are you supposed to use this without breaking eye contact?" Zuckerberg then asked if he could get indoor directions with the device, to which Brin responded, "No, there's no way to specify destination indoors."
Despite his evident excitement, Zuckerberg made sure that no public pictures were taken of him wearing the device. "Wait, this isn't supposed to be a thing," he said. Zuckerberg then asked a few more questions, including whether there was a possibility of sending data through Glass without using Google's servers. Brin said that there was not.
The interaction between the two executives was an intriguing one, given the fact that Google and Facebook rarely work together and are considered rivals in the advertisement and social networking arenas. Nevertheless, Zuckerberg seemed optimistic about working with Google.
"Even though our relationship isn't one where the companies really talk, we are able to do a bunch of things and build some great experiences," he said.
Zuckerberg claims that he already has three engineers, including a former employee of Google, waiting for the glasses so they can start creating applications.
