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Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

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111–120 of 342 posts

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#111

Being someone in the AR space, I find this a smart but risky move. If they're marked right and become "cool" I'll definitely have to cop a pair (and at $130 they're almost disposable). Spectacles will make it way easier for me to post to Snapchat at parties/concerts/etc without having to break out of the moment by taking my phone out. Strategy-wise, this is a Trojan horse into the AR hardware space, which Evan has wa…

If i were in the AR space, i'd be very excited by this. Snapchat, probably more than any other company, has the potential to make wearing technology on your face socially acceptable. Google did not, microsoft doesn't, no unknown startup does, but there's a good chance that these glasses could do it.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#112

Being someone in the AR space, I find this a smart but risky move. If they're marked right and become "cool" I'll definitely have to cop a pair (and at $130 they're almost disposable). Spectacles will make it way easier for me to post to Snapchat at parties/concerts/etc without having to break out of the moment by taking my phone out. Strategy-wise, this is a Trojan horse into the AR hardware space, which Evan has wa…

The site seems blocked here (China) but if I read the comments, how is it AR? What more does it do than make a picture when you tap your temple? Is there any augmenting of reality going on, because then $130 would be 'free'.

I guess I wasn't very clear with my comment. These glasses aren't in any way AR, but if people get used to wearing Snap electronics on their face, it will be natural for them to move into the AR market

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#113

Even thought I'm not "inb4" Glass comparisons this really does hit a market that I think is untapped. I used to have a "flipcam". It was before I had a phone with the ability to take HD video and before a GoPro was a choice for me because of cost (I still don't have a GoPro). The ability to have cheaper, stylish, handsfree video recording of my POV has a lot of potential. How-to videos, the "capturing memories" as no…

> If I were GoPro I'd be nervous. Yeah... no. I wouldn't skydive with those glasses. Though "gopro for the rest of us" would be a good tagline. The rest of your post is pretty spot on.

[deleted]

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#114
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Enrichment" isn't as strong of a word as you're thinking. If it makes life better or more enjoyable for someone, it's life enriching for them.

I would argue for a logical and in there. Cocaine makes life more enjoyable for almost everyone, but it's hardly life enriching.

That's a good point, but "better" is a subjective word. If an individual is capable of enjoying life while using cocaine, without regrets that outweigh their experience, then cocaine has enriched their life. Drugs are always a mixed bag, and the bad generally outweighs the good, in my opinion. Others may feel differently though, so I don't want to deprive them of their definition of life enrichment. Enrichment is not enlightenment: If anyone claims these glasses will make a person's life more enlightened, I would then be skeptical. Enriched though, I can accept. Let's first imagine some of the less valuable things people may be doing with their time, specifically in the targeted age range.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#115
post #39

Why? You need to seriously question the motives behind such a launch. IMHO: [1]Snapshot is an online multimedia application. [2]The infrastructure required to move from online to hardware requires significant investment (beyond the $1.8B they recently raised) - that of which I don't believe Snapchat can fund without a serious re-monetiziation strategy beyond Ads. It is only a matter of time before FB makes the move i…

1.8B...? not sure what you are talking about. In China, the molds for the frame don't cost more than 30kUSD (and thats on the high end). Not sure what the lenses do on the glasses so I'll hold off on an estimate. PCBs and off the shelf components have 0 overhead other than buying in MOQs which is inconsequential for snapchat.

I am talking about their recent Series F raise: https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/26/snapchat-series-f/

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#116

Snapchat has a huge opportunity in its hand which it has limited to take full advantage of: starting a revenue share program with influencers on the platform. Facebook has yet to do it and Snapchat, which is strapped with VC dollars, can attract a lot more influencers to its platform. I think the companies on the Discover are already in some sort of revenue sharing agreement with Snapchat but brining this to the mass…

Revenue from what product or service?

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#118
post #82

I can't be the only one who thinks this is going to eat GoPro's lunch, am I? Sure the initial version may not be as high quality as a GoPro and the time limit isn't as good but those are easy things to fix and they have a monstrous social network (something GoPro is sorta trying to break into). If anything kills GoPro it's something like this.

They'd need to have longer videos than 10s though. I enjoy watching GoPro videos on youtube and they are universally longer than 10s.

That's just a software limitation that could be bypassed if the device gets jailbroken, redirecting the creepiness from the company to a single user (who decided to jailbreak to take longer videos).

If enough people start jailbreaking their Spectacles, Snapchat good could then get rid of this limitation.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#119

I think this is brilliant. Even the press details seem perfectly crafted, with one article referencing Evan's "supermodel girlfriend." Snapchat can win here based on brand alone. The hardware features are a plus, but they're going to sell a lifestyle. Think GoPro + Versace. Commenters here are caught up in the tech. It's not the tech. Get a few celebrities in these, people will buy them and barely use the recording f…

Not sure how it's brilliant. Secondly, it still suffers from that fact that literally everyone is creeped out by a rando staring at them with two cameras. At least a phone is halfway obvious when in use.

Re: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1.8B...? not sure what you are talking about. In China, the molds for the frame don't cost more than 30kUSD (and thats on the high end). Not sure what the lenses do on the glasses so I'll hold off on an estimate. PCBs and off the shelf components have 0 overhead other than buying in MOQs which is inconsequential for snapchat.

I am talking about their recent Series F raise: https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/26/snapchat-series-f/

I think the commenter you replied to was questioning your assumption that 1.8bn was not enough money.
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