Microsoft as copycat

Lorraine Luk and Shira Ovide have an article in The Wall Street Journal about Google Glass as done by Microsoft:

Microsoft is testing prototypes for web-connected eyewear similar to the Google Glass device (photo), people familiar with the matter said, potentially pushing the company into the much-hyped but unproven market for Internet-enabled technology gear worn on the body. A person familiar with Microsoft's project said the company has asked several component makers in Asia to supply cameras and other key components for eyewear prototypes. The person cautioned the device may never reach mass production.
The test shows Microsoft is keeping close tabs on the emerging market for "wearable" technology gear, which includes bracelets that detect how much people exercise, wristwatches that replicate some features of smartphones, and more out-there ideas like tattoos to log people onto their computing devices. Market-research firm ABI Research expects annual sales of wearable devices will reach 485 million units by 2018.
Microsoft is "determined to take the lead in hardware manufacturing to make sure the company won't miss out on the opportunities in the wearable gadget market", the person said.
The eyeglass-device test also underscores Microsoft's efforts to transform itself from a company that mostly made software into one that also has a hand in the gadgets on which the software runs. Smartphones, small digital-video connectors for televisions, and other hardware devices have helped transform consumer technology, and established Apple and Samsung as tech titans. By contrast, Microsoft has largely been sidelined in the consumer-hardware market.
Microsoft's determination to become a bigger player in consumer tech gear was underscored by its seven-billion-dollar acquisition of Nokia's mobile-phone business. Microsoft last year also started making its own computing devices, called Surface, and it is continuing to test its own web-connected watch, people familiar with the matter have said.
In wearable computing, Microsoft rival Google has been the biggest backer of devices worn on the face. The company's Google Glass device looks like an eyeglass frame with a postage-stamp-size computer screen just above the right eye. Google Glass lets wearers take photos with voice commands, and get digital directions without turning their gaze to a smartphone.
It's unclear how the devices would make their inventors money, and it's unproven whether people want them at all. In a recent survey of Americans by research firm Forrester Research, twelve percent of respondents said they would wear web gadgets on their faces if they came from a trusted company.
Worries about potential privacy invasions with Google Glass have dogged web-connected eyewear. Google Glass isn't yet for sale to the public. To address the issue, Google has said that it has built explicit signals to make others aware of actions such as taking photos or videos.
Optimists about wearable devices say companies making gadgets that duplicate features of mobile phones could undercut smartphone sales. As competition drives down prices of most technology, wearable devices also could provide an opening for higher-cost gear.
"The wearable trend has the potential to boost the currently thin margins of consumer technology products by allowing tech brands to price their products at the kind of premiums normally reserved for fashion accessories," said HSBC analyst Jenny Lai.
In addition to Google, some of the technology industry's biggest companies are showing interest in wearable gadgets. Microsoft has 78 US patents related to head-mounted display and other wearable technologies, and 94 published pending applications as of 10 October 2013, according to intellectual property firm Envision IP. Google had 59 such US patents, and Apple had 27, Envision said.
Samsung and computer-chip maker Qualcomm recently introduced web-connected watches. In May of 2013, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said wearable computers will be a "key branch" in technology, though he said he didn't believe eyewear-like gear would have mainstream appeal.

Rico says a good neener-neener seems appropriate here; with all the smart folks they have working in Redmond, you'd think they could come up with something new on their own...