17 Billion Dollar company Snapchat seems to have surprised friends and foes alike this weekend by renaming itself to Snap Inc. and releasing a stylish, new wearable tech gadget called Spectacles. The video grabbing sunglasses contain a 115-degree wide view lens, can record 10 second video clips from a first-person vantage, and comes at a modest price of 129 dollars.
Snap Inc’s numbers are growing steadily as more than 60% of 13-to-34-year-old smartphone users are now on the application. On a daily basis, over 150 million ‘Snapchatters’ send more than one billion ‘Snaps’ and watch over 10 billion videos. Snapchat has become what is essentially television for the baby boomer generation. In comparison, Snapchat has 15 million more daily users than Twitter. A difference which is likely to become greater as time progresses.
By launching its own hardware, the brightly colored Spectacles will allow Snap Inc. to finally control a physical camera. Through vertical integration, the company is now no longer dependent on the built-in lenses of smartphones. The implications could be far-reaching if Snap Inc. – “a camera company now” – can seize the means of large-scale image production and innovate its business model. By doing so, the company could exploit new revenue streams and diversify its operation.
Spectacles follows the unfortunate missteps made by Alphabet during the much hyped launch of Google’s glasses, but precedes the launch of the second – improved – version, anticipated to come out somewhere in 2017. It can be argued that Alphabet may find a much more willing audience and receptive media when it launches the second version of Google glass again due to the potential market penetration that will be done in the meantime by Snap’s spectacles.
Taking all of this into consideration, do you think that Snap Inc. has made a wise move by entering the hardware market? And will Inc’s actions pave or ease the way for success for other tech giants like Alphabet with their wearable tech gadgets such as the Google Glass or Facebook’s Oculus Rift?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqkOFLBSJR8
Sources:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/snapchat-releases-first-hardware-product-spectacles-1474682719
http://seekingalpha.com/article/4008461-snaps-spectacles-release-good-news-google-glasses-2
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/sep/26/snap-inc-snapchat-spectacles-video-recording-sunglasses
In my opinion Snap has made some solid decisions for their newly announced glasses camera. I believe the two main reasons Google Glasses wasn’t a succes was (1) the insanely high price ($1500) and (2) others didn’t know when the wearer of the Google Glass was filming. Snap tackles both these problems by releasing a glasses camera that (1) only costs $129 and (2) shows a light to the side of the glasses when its recording. I’m curious if it will be a succes, but it sure looks like Snap learned from the mistakes Google made.
Snapchat has turned down every takeover bid there was for their company, so they need to think of some other way for investors to exit or monetise their app. Selling actual hardware is a great way to do that. At 130$ they’re no more expensive than a pair of Raybans. But with 24/7 (not really, because who wears sunglasses 24/7?) video around you their might be some privacy concerns. But unlike Google Glass it doesn’t have a direct link to the internet (you’ll still need your phone) and it doesn’t look as ridiculous and obvious. Back in 2014 people actually got beaten up for wearing Google Glass as people didn’t want to be filmed (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2590135/I-want-white-trash-tape-Google-Glass-wearer-bar-fight-releases-footage-fracas.html). With those new Spectacles by Snap you can only film for 10 seconds at a time and it gives a clear indication that you are filming with the bright white status LEDs around the camera lens so I think Snap has thought about their product a bit better than Google did, back in the day.
I think that the Spectacles will be a succes because it solved the problems where google failed. Spectacles are designed for one thing, and one thing only.Filming short, throwaway clips from one’s own view-point By deliberately limiting what Spectacles can do, Snapchat has streamlined the product and kept the price tag low. Spectacles retail at $129.99, less than a pair of designer sunglasses from Rayban and much less than a pair of $1500 Google Glasses. This price is affordable for most comsumers. Spectacles look cooler and less nerdy than Google Glass, and are basically looking like sunglasses you can buy at the popular sunglasses webshops in the Netherlands. I also like its charger system. Snapchat has come up with a very creative idea and design to charge the Spectacle. The Snap Spectacles charger is like a case of sunglasses, it keep-safes the sunglasses so they don’t break and it also charges the spectacle. The battery should last a day and you can get up to four full recharges from the portable charging case. What also could help Snapchat is its volume. Snap targets teenagers who are more willing to buy such products and i think that snapchat could help to normalize public video recording. So i think that the second version of Google glass can be a succes since Snapchat may normalize public video recording.