eBay working on potential applications for Google Glass

Developers at eBay Inc are working on potential applications for Google Inc's Glass project, opening up the possibility that shopping and broader commercial activities might be conducted through the wearable technology.

"EBay Inc is participating in the beta of Google Glass and we are exploring the various use-case scenarios," said eBay spokeswoman Amanda Miller.

EBay's Innovation and New Ventures group, run by former eBay mobile executive Steve Yankovich, is taking part in the Google Glass trial program, she added.

EBay's online marketplace has been revitalized in recent years by the success of apps the company developed early for Apple Inc's iPhone, the first mobile computing platform to really take off commercially.

EBay wants to make sure that, if Google Glass becomes the next big mobile platform, its apps will be on there early too.

Some of eBay's existing mobile apps already let shoppers point smart phone cameras at products to check online prices and buy related items. The price-checking capabilities have sparked a new trend in retail known as show-rooming, the practice of looking at items in physical stores and then buying them online.

Google unveiled a half-dozen apps on May 16, 2013 designed to work on Glass, a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the left side of a pair of eyeglass frames that can record video, access messages and retrieve information from the Web.

Glass apps from social networking services Facebook Inc and Twitter were among those announced on May 16, 2013.

© Thomson Reuters 2013