Google Glass Mirror API Documentation - Update

Google Glass Developers Prohibited From Using Ads OR Charging For Apps

Google has introduced documentation for the Mirror API, the user interface that developers will utilize to write services for Glass. The material involve starting from instant begin guides for Java and Python to detailed developer guides and best practices , and beginning assignments and libraries are available for download . The news arrives just as the first Glass units are starting to release off the production line.

We already noticed a lot of the implementation details in Google's SXSW presentation, but everything is listed here in so much more detail. Services are "installed" by authorizing them to post to your Glass timeline with OAuth 2 .0, and those apps post text, images, and other data to your device using JSON objects and HTTP requests. For all intents and purposes, Glass is a web app.

GLASS IS A WEB APP

Amazingly, Google's terms and conditions forbid developers from publishing their client software anywhere but "the official Google-hosted Google Mirror API Client syndication medium, except if otherwise accepted in writing by Google." The change marks a huge leaving from the hands-off approach Google has taken with Android app distribution, frequently touted as a energy of its "open" platform.

NOT ONLY ARE ADS FORBIDDEN FOR GLASS CLIENT APPS, SO ARE FEES

The terms and conditions also clearly curb ads on Glass client apps, in addition to charging fees for Glass. They state that "you may not charge end users any fees or gather any payments in order to download or access you’re API Client, or with regards to virtual goods or functionality of your API Client." It's essential not to read too much into this — the terms could always modify later on — nevertheless for today it seems like all "Glassware" will be free to use, at the least during the existing beta. We're definitely curious about the revenue model here for developers, and we've achieved out to Google for comment.

Update: Google validates that Glass developers will not be able to charge or advertise for their earlier creations, but which may improvement in the upcoming. "The API remains in a limited preview," a consultant informs The Verge. "Developers are very important to the long term of Glass. The concentrate during the Explorer Program is on invention and experimentation, but it's too early to forecast how this will progress.”

Google Mirror API: Guidelines 

Google Mirror API: Contacts

Google Mirror API: Menu Items

Google Mirror API: Subscriptions

Google Mirror API: Timeline Cards