Canadian smart eyewear maker Recon Instruments has been acquired by Intel in a bid to further bolster its position in the wearable’s market. Recon Instruments is the award winning technology company behind the world’s first consumer Heads up Displays for sports. Recon Instruments makes two products Recon Jet which is a pair of sunglasses for runners and cyclists with an integrated display and Recon Snow2 which is a ski mask also with an integrated display.
According to the deal, the terms of which have not been disclosed, Recon Instruments 75 member team will join the Intel’s New Devices Group. An Intel spokesperson said that the acquisition is “small and not financially material to Intel.” According to the report by TechVibes the amount is likely to be around $175 million.
Josh Walden, Intel’s Senior Vice President wrote on the company blog “We’ve gotten to know and admire [Recon’s] products and people over the last couple years. This acquisition gives Intel a talented, experienced wearable-computing team that will help us expand the market for head-mounted display products and technologies.”
Dan Eisenhardt, Recon’s co-founder, said “As part of Intel, we’ll have the resources to continue the mission we began with the creation of Recon in 2008, but with a level of efficacy and speed that’s beyond the reach of a pioneer in a new market.”
Recon’s smart eyewear products targets on fitness products like Recon Jet unlike Google Glass, which tries to provide everything from a workplace assistant for warehouse workers to a baby-video maker for new parents. Recon stated that it had shipped around 50,000 units of its Snow model as of 2013 which are far more than Google Glass who had shipped only a few thousand units.