Google Glass To Invade Best Buy, Take Up Store Space In 2014

First Apple AAPL set up shop at Best Buy BBY. This summer, Samsung SSNLF and Microsoft MSFT came to the retailer, which is slowly becoming a mini-mall for tech companies. Now Google GOOG wants a piece of the action. According to a Google+ post by tech blogger Robert Scoble (via SlashGear), Google will rent 6,000 square feet inside of every Best Buy next year. These mini stores aren't being set up to push Chromebooks, Chromecast, Nexus 7, Moto X and other Google products. Instead, Google supposedly wants the space to promote the public launch of Google Glass. Related: Google's Project Glass is Already Being Cloned Google could do a lot with 6,000 square feet. The company could set up a series of familiar environments/settings, almost like IKEA. But instead of showing consumers how a bed and shelving unit may fit into a bedroom with only a few hundred square feet, Google could demonstrate how Google Glass could fit into consumers' everyday lives. This might be an expensive venture, but the company may have no choice if it expects consumers to spend several hundred dollars on the device. According to Yahoo Tech, people "close to Google's Glass team" have said that the consumer price will be higher than $299. Some estimate that Google could charge as much as $499 for the device -- one-third the cost of the developer version. If Google is going to allow consumers to test out its glasses in store, it must intend to eliminate the restrictions that accompanied the developer version. Right now, developers are not allowed to give, share or sell their glasses with anyone else. If they do, the device could be deactivated, preventing it from functioning. It would then be up to Google to reactivate the device, which it is unlikely to do given the explicit warning in its service agreement. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ