Epson’s Google Glass-like smartglasses go on sale for $700

While the world continues to wet its pants every time another Google Glass tidbit flutters into the echo chamber, Epson has quietly been shipping its own retail face wearable to consumers. The first-generation Moverio smartglasses were somewhat raw, but on Tuesday Epson announced retail availability for the second-gen Moverio BT-200. They cost $700, and can be purchased at Epson.com.

While Google continues to roll out monthly updates for its not-yet-launched face-based Glass gadget, a company better known for printers than high-tech specs is already onto the second iteration of its smart glasses. Epson entered the wearable tech space around a year ago with its BT-100 smart specs, though admittedly the device hardly took the market by storm. Undeterred, its designers have been busy working on the next iteration of the product, unveiling the Moverio BT-200 Smart Glasses at CES in January. While its Android 4.0 OS may leave some wondering if Epson realizes Google has in fact released a few more versions of its mobile operating system since, the specs may be of interest to some who missed out on Google’s recent one-day sale and haven’t the patience to sit around waiting to see if the Mountain View company is ever actually going to give its device a commercial release.