Remember Google Glass? It was a wearable device designed to look like a pair of specs. Controlled by voice and motion, Google Glass displayed information in the wearer's field of vision. On release, it was able to do things like:

• Translate text in real-time.
• Take photos and videos.
• Provide floating maps and navigation that let you still see your immediate surroundings.
• Provide you with data about people you met, gathered and collated from social media.

The glasses were much-hyped. Time magazine dubbed them "best invention of the year", and countless celebrities were pictured wearing them – among them Prince Charles.

Despite being way ahead of its time, and presented as the next big step in smart technology, Google Glass is often considered a historic flop.

But here's the thing. Rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Although the original Google Glass was withdrawn from sale in 2015, Google Glass is still with us, but in a different form and for a different purpose. It exists as Glass Enterprise Edition 2, "a small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display for hands-free work".

In this form, Google Glass is focused on making frontline workers safer and more efficient. It does this by providing them with easily accessible training and instructions, along with instant contact with coworkers, technicians and experts.

In our view, Google Glass wasn't a failure so much as a false start. Its mistake was in trying to corner the consumer market. Google neglected its enterprise potential – but its successful repurposing shows the potential it had all along.

But before we look at how this repurposing has taken place, let's first investigate the reasons that the original Google Glass failed.

Privacy concerns

For Google Glass to function, it had to be constantly monitoring your location with GPS, the audio around you with its microphone and your surroundings with its camera.

A person wearing a Google Glass could take a photo or video of you without you knowing. Many saw this as an obvious invasion of privacy.

Alongside this concern about personal boundaries being crossed, there was a legal dimension too. Google Glass opened up the possibility of people discreetly bootlegging films in the cinema or breaking the no-photography law in casinos.

Marketing missteps

The marketing of Google Glass has been widely criticised.

Google launched the new product in stages. First, it was sold to so-called "Glass Explorers": early adopters who paid $1,500 a pair to beta test it.

These first owners were usually techies – and they mostly gave Google Glass negative reviews. A common refrain was that it couldn't do anything their smartphones already could. This sense of anticlimax filtered into early press coverage.

Next, it was released to the general public, with a price tag of $1,500. This put off many potential buyers. The price suggested it was the preserve of "Explorers", but the marketing implied it was a technological advance that would benefit anyone – in the end, leaving neither type of customer satisfied.

Glass glitches

As soon as it was released, Google Glass came under fire for poor battery life and glitchy performance.

One reason for this may simply be that it was rush-released. This was the view of one former Google employee, who told the New York Times: "The team within Google X knew the product wasn't even close to ready for prime time".

An early review damned it as "a first generation product that's very buggy, and will probably fail to revolutionise the tech industry, at least as Glass is currently built."

What was it for?

Finally, a big criticism was that Google Glass was the answer to a question nobody had asked.

It repackaged readily available smartphone functions in an expensive, glitchy form that raised thorny questions about privacy and legality. Many reviewers felt that its use cases overlapped too much with existing technologies, especially the smartphone.

So why wasn't it a failure?

This last point is central to our argument as to why Google Glass wasn't, ultimately, a failure, but simply a false start.

Now that the product has been repurposed for enterprise and its functionality turned to settings such as medicine, construction, and manufacture, the device has come into its own as a genuinely innovative, useful bit of kit.

Let's take a look at how Google Glass's functions have come to shine in industrial settings.

Instant access to useful information

If you're on-site and need access to a training video or quality-assurance checklist, Google Glass can give it to you at the drop of a hat. This has obvious benefits for health and safety and has the potential to shrink the possibility of human error by making accuracy more easily achievable.

Moreover, it's operated by voice commands, allowing users to stay focused on the job with both hands free. The screen inside the right lens displays the information they need, meaning they don't have to take out their phone or use a computer. This reduces the chance of becoming distracted.

For these reasons, logistics companies like DB Schenker and DHL use Glass to improve order-picking efficiency in their warehouses.

Instant communication with colleagues

Finally, Google Glass can connect staff with coworkers, trainers and experts in an instant, allowing them to "see what you see" via a live video stream. If an employee needs talking through a technical solution, they can troubleshoot collaboratively in real-time.

One striking example of its utility can be seen in the field of paramedical care. Paramedics are often constrained by time and location. If a patient needs specialist intervention, they have to be taken to a hospital ASAP. This transportation time delays treatment.

With Google Glass, doctors can see what the paramedics see, assess the situation, and provide guidance from any location. Because of the device's discreetness, paramedics can stay focused on the most important thing – saving the patient's life.

Extended reality products are transforming the world of business. You can read up on more XR use cases here – or, if you're thinking of investing in some transformative tech of your own, buy or browse our range of XR wearables.