Google turned more than a few heads earlier this year when it announced that Nest's Tony Fadell would be taking charge of Google Glass, a move that came just a year after he joined the company following the acquisition of his home automation startup. But, as he explains in a new interview with the BBC, it was apparently his idea.

The job "wasn't handed to me and said, 'Tony clean it up,'" Fadell, who led the team that built the iPod while at Apple, tells the BBC, "I offered." He goes on to explain, "I remember what it was like when we did the iPod and the iPhone. I think this can be that important, but it's going to take time to get it right." 

Exactly how much time that might take, Fadell isn't willing to speculate, but he defended the company's decision to end the so-called "Explorer" program that put Google Glass in the hands of interested developers. On that, he said there needs to be a line drawn between hardware and software, noting that "customers have to spend money to buy those atoms," and adding, "they want something that delivers value or you end up with a real disappointment and you can spoil the market."

Something that he apparently doesn't want to risk doing a second time with Glass.