You can now buy Google Glass from Takealot… as long as you’ve R27k to burn [Update: someone did]

Critical update: someone has made the plunge and purchased Google Glass from Takealot. We don’t know how many, just that it has happened.

“We are pleased to confirm that we have made sales of Google Glass in the last 24 hours and we will continue to monitor our stock levels and to replenish when needs be,” says head of marketing, Declan Hollywood. Dreams can come true.

Original story:

Are you a wealthy South African tech enthusiast? Then Takealot.com, one of South Africa’s largest online retail stores has a surprise for you. From today, people in SA can purchase Google Glass Explorer Edition for the low, low price of R26 999. Watch Takealot’s Google Glass advert while you wait for your blood pressure to decrease.

The advert, set in Cape Town, shows off Glass in its best light

Google Glass is damn expensive and costs US$1500 (R16 000) in the US, with the South African price cutting deep into the wallet. It’s unaffordable for most, but Takealot’s co-CEO Willem Van Biljon has high expectations for it. “We expect to sell the product to a highly engaged niche of technologists who will jump at the opportunity to be the first in the market to own Google Glass.”

Takealot has two Glass models on sale (both are functionally the same): one with “split style” frames, the other with “edge style”.

So for the same price as a 1997 Volkswagen Golf, you too can now own a cutting edge product from 2012. Here’s what it’s all about.

Google Glass is a wearable eyeglass frame computer that visually connects users to the internet. Wearers communicate with the internet via voice commands and can access many of Google’s key cloud features, such as Google Maps, as well as to a host of third-party apps. An optical display sits above the right eye, with a 640*380 resolution, and is the equivalent to a 25-inch HDTV sitting just 8 feet away.

For those who really want to see how Glass looks when worn, Phandroid has the video for you.

Takealot has also happily included a “How Not To Be A Glasshole” guide (by Techcrunch), which should be read and memorised by any potential Glass owner. Rich tech geeks are already too Glasshole-y for their own good, so owning a product like this may tip the delicate scales many so precariously balance their hipster lifestyles on.