During the weekend, Snapchat rebranded itself to Snap Inc and announced their first hardware product which they call Spectacles (really?)
First, the name…Snap Inc. It actually makes sense to make people differentiate the compay and their product. Their product, Snapchat is the wildly popular instant messaging app which was launched 5 years ago and has grown to make face masks and doodling cool again. It has also made it a leader in their livestreaming area thanks to the popularity of live stories and geofilters while the idea of turning “your story” into a visual diary made Instagram come up with their own version.
The decision to rebrand the company to Snap Inc also allowed the company to debut its first hardware product called Spectacles. The other products the company offered were software bound within Snapchat and this is an interesting foray for the company.
https://youtu.be/XqkOFLBSJR8
According to Snapchat Snap Inc, Spectacles are sunglasses with a video camera that allow you to create memories. Basically, they are the Snapchat version of Google Glass and they are quite interesting. Apparently according to the company, they have been working on this for years and they are sunglasses with integrated video cameras and wireless connectivity.
They also claim that it will allow you to take a day’s worth of snaps which you will later transfer them to your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi on Snapchat. They also took the chance to introduce a brand new video format: Circular video where people will be able to capture 10 second videos at a time with a wide field of view (115° to be exact). This will be generated by the new Spectacles and this means that the Stories generated from these specs will be unlike what you’ve been seeing from your Stories page.
Snap says that they will be available in 3 different colours and according to the WSJ, it will cost $130. This is an interesting move by the company as they try to make sure people come up with creative ways of coming up with interesting stories to be shared on the platform. We will have to know how this venture will pan out and if we should expect more hardware from the company.
