I’m sure Google would love if Glass and the company’s still-developing driverless-car software became ubiquitous, but Jeremy Fisher makes a good point at Medium: Even if another company invents a more popular version of those things, the search leader stands to profit. From Fisher’s essay:

“No matter who brings the rest of the world online, develops the first breakout wearable computer, or perfects the self-driving car, chances are good it’s Google we’ll be using while we sand-surf across the Sahara towed by a driverless automobile. You can–and companies will–try changing the default option and giving preference to another service, as Apple did when it replaced Google Maps, but that’s worked out poorly in the past.

Google’s investment in these technologies can be seen as part of a shaping strategy aimed at increasing aggregate global online time. Glass spurs Apple to develop the iWatch/iBand, which spurs Samsung…Loon spurs Safaricom…and so on. From this perspective, it’s possible that Google agrees with its critics: It’s all good, as long as someone invents the next iPhone. If these projects can make that happen faster, they will have proved a wise investment.”