Google Glass Release Date: App Store 'Boutique' Officially Coming 2014

A Google Glass release date in 2014 is looking pretty certain, now that the smartglass's rumored app store, "Boutique," has been confirmed to debut in 2014, according to details in a lengthy New York Times feature on the Mountain View giant's new wearable computing devices.

The article is a first-person account by Glass user Clive Thompson, which is a great read, but the article also tips off Google's plans to introduce an app store exclusively for Glass next year. And you wouldn't have an app store without a device to run the apps.

This isn't the first time we've heard of a Google Glass app store. In early July, a regular, monthly update for Google Glass Explorer Edition, called "XE7" contained a word, hidden in the code in the .APK file listing (Android application installation files), that acknowledged the existence of a Glass-geared app store: "Boutique." Whether the Glass app store will be called the "Boutique" in the future is still up for debate.

As far as a specific release date in 2014 for the Google Glass "Boutique" app store or the device itself, there's no specific information at the moment. Recently, in early August, a Taiwanese technology industry researcher put his name behind a figure that he thought would be Google Glass's likely price: $300 U.S., which is a fifth of the cost of the current Google Glass Explorer editions.

However, on Twitter a few weeks ago, Google Glass insider Chris Dale said on Twitter that rumors of a Best Buy release date in 2014 and the $300 price tag were just false.

Google Glass not coming to Best Buy in 2014... oh, and it won't be $299 either. #factcheck

— Chris Dale (@cadale) August 23, 2013

So we're left, for the moment, not knowing the specific release date window or price for the consumer edition of Google Glass. But we do know that a consumer edition is coming next year, because it would be absurd to launch an app store for the devices if only a select few - those enviable Explorers - could use it.