Why Google Glass's Hotword is 'OK Glass' and Not 'Pew Pew Pew'
Google Glass users are going to say "OK" all the time, after the company settled on "OK Glass" as the "hotword" phrase to prompt the device to spring into action. But according to the marketer who came up with the phrase for Google, that phrase could have been quite a few other things, including "Clap on," "Glassicus," or "Pew Pew Pew."
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Amanda Rosenberg, who now works as Glass's marketing manager, posted to Google Plus on Tuesday the story of how "OK," and for that matter, she, got the job. In her email to Glass product manager Mat Balez, Rosenberg explained that the device will need "constant" spoken activation by hotword, "mostly in public." Think about how often smartphone users, say, look up directions on the fly, or send a text, or any number of quick interactions that barely require a break in stride. Glass users need to say something to make that happen. "OK," Rosenberg decided, worked for pretty much anything a Glass user could throw at it. Here's her pitch to Balez:
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Rosenberg said that the company settled on her suggestion just one week after she pitched it. And it turns out that her idea was much needed by the team working on Glass at that time. Rosenberg presented a list of her favorite runners-up that developers threw around before "OK:"
Listen up Glass Hear me now Let me use Glass to Go Go Glass Clap on Device, please 3, 2, 1... Glassicus Glass alive Pew pew pew
You can read her whole post here. Google, we're guessing, likes Rosenberg's idea much better than some other more recent lexicographical contributions inspired by the product.
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