There has been a lot of speculation around the tech blogosphere about what firmware Google Glass is running. Most people have assumed that Google had created a proprietary firmware to run what is obviously a unique hardware set up. But today during Google's quarterly earnings call CEO Larry Page confirmed that Google Glass does indeed run a modified version of Android. Page said "obviously, Glass runs on Android, so [Android] has been pretty transportable across devices, and I think that will continue."

Among other things this certainly speaks to the flexibility and adaptability of Android. It is one thing to see Android run on cameras, laptops, smart phones, tablets and even one refrigerator. But it is quite another to see Android powering this type of wearable computing device.


This is great news for Android developers who might be looking to port their application over to Glass in the near future. Glass running Android means that the two will share a common language and this should aid in the speedy development of a vibrant third-party developer community around Glass. Of course nothing will motivate creative developers to come up with innovative ways to use Google Glass like popularity among consumers. At the end of the day no matter how hard Google works to promote Glass it will be up to the early adopters among us, as well as the average consumer to make the Google Glass ecosystem viable.

We can also assume that the rumored Google smart watch will almost certainly run a version of Android as well. Since a smart watch won't necessarily be as wildly different in terms of hardware from a smart phone, I would think that porting an app over to a smart watch should be more simple than developing an app for Google Glass.

It will be interesting to see how consumers react to the wearable computing devices that will be hitting the market over the next couple of years. Do you see yourself purchasing either Google Glass or a Google smart watch? Let us know in the comments section.