Google Glass sales end on Jan. 19

Google will stop selling its internet-connected eyewear to consumers until the company can develop a more polished and affordable version that's less likely to be viewed as a freakish device.

The sales moratorium on the nearly 2-year-old "Explorer" edition of Google Glass goes into effect Jan. 19. The decision announced Thursday coincides with Glass' spin-off from the secretive Google X lab where it was invented.

• Read Google's statement
• Google X faces innovator's dilemma: Wow factor has to pay

Glass will now operate in a division run by veteran marketing executive Ivy Ross. She will report to Tony Fadell, who runs the smart-appliance maker Nest Labs that Google bought for $3.2 billion last year.

Glass is a hands-free device featuring a thumbnail-sized screen above the wearer's right eye. It cost $1,500US and raised privacy concerns for its potential to secretly take pictures and videos.

It has not gone on sale in Canada, although Google confirmed in October that it had received regulatory approval here.