Google prepares to start selling Glass eyewear to the public

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc will take online orders for its Glass wearable gadget on April 15, in its biggest push to get the $1,500 wraparound Web-ready glasses out to the U.S. public.

For a limited time starting Tuesday, Google will make the wearable device available to more than just the select group of users such as apps developers in its Glass Explorer program.

In a blogpost, Google did not say how many pairs it would sell, just that the quantity would be limited.

"Every day we get requests from those of you who haven't found a way into the program yet, and we want your feedback too," the company said on a Thursday blogpost.

"That's why next Tuesday, April 15th, we'll be trying our latest and biggest Explorer Program expansion experiment to date. We'll be allowing anyone in the U.S. to become an Explorer by purchasing Glass."

Many tech pundits expect wearable devices to go mainstream this year, extending smartphone and tablet capabilities to gadgets worn on the body, from watches to headsets. Google has run campaigns in the past to drum up public involvement, including inviting people to tweet under the hashtag #ifihadglass for a chance to buy a pair of the glasses.

Google Glass has raised privacy concerns, prompting some legislators to propose bans on the gadget.

(Reporting by San Francisco Newsroom; Editing by Richard Chang)

[Image: Developer Maximiliano Firtman wears the prototype device Google Glass before a news conference ahead of the 2013 RigaComm event in Riga on Nov. 4, 2013. By Ints Kalnins for Reuters.]