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Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

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Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#211
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The issue is the the 12-20 years are quite mercurial. I don't think we are mercurial but that we have less experience and therefore are much more willing to try new things. Snapchat is way better as an outlet to post more regular things you are doing to your friends because it is ephemeral. Why? Because we all look back and see all the stupid stuff we posted when we were younger. The only reason I haven't deleted m…

I hope you don't believe that. You never know when someone saved something.

Have you never made a joke before that some random person might not like and get offended by it and try and attack you for it? Have you never said something that you have looked back upon and regretted saying it (whether you were just young and immature or just not thinking clearly)?

Do you also not do those things over common communication channels outside of talking face to face?

I'm genuinely curious because I literally don't know anyone under 30 that has never done anything that they did not want recorded in history forever.

It's not that I have posted anything on facebook/instagram/snapchat... that is really that bad/embarrassing. If it were all posted on the front page of the NYT I would probably go through life just as normally (albeit, quite a bit embarrassed by it). I would just prefer to minimize that risk.

That's where snapchat fills the niche. It allows me to speak more freely with others with less fear that everything I say and do will be pulled up years later completely out of context.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With only 100k users they would generate approximately 9BN images per month (30FPS min, 10sec Snaps, average 10 snaps per day). With 1M users of spectacles (.6% of their current MAU), that's potentially 90BN images per month and over a trillion per year. In the same dataset. Machine vision wet dream.

There is no way the average user is shooting full 10s snaps 10x day. I use Snapchat regularly and that describes the top eschelon of users, which might be Spectacles users, but probably not all of them. I believe that is a vast overestimate.

As with most statistics it's likely normally distributed. I know teens send/receive in the hundreds per day - mind boggling really - and the celeb accounts post dozens daily. Even back in 2013 the numbers were staggering.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-snaps-snapchat-users...

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're trying to convince yourself very hard, as you're all about AR. But nobody will wear those dumb glasses.

And nobody would carry Palm Pilot PDAs. Well they didn't wind up carrying them from Palm, but Apple and Samsung sure have something awfully close. Snap may or may not be the AR disruptor, but AR will be the new smartphone. Whoever owns it will be the new Apple.

But before Palm Pilots, there was the Newton so loved by techies, just like Glass. So snap may end up the palm pilot or one of the dozen PDA knockoffs that were around (I seem to remember some Microsoft ones too). It seems like concepts float around in several iterations, or as many as it takes, until someone hits the sweet spot.

I'm not really knowledgeable about the "wearable" market, but to me it doesn't seem as ubiquitous as the smart phone.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that they will write these off evetually. To me they feel very similar to Google glass insofar the customer bases being somewhat similar, maybe spectacles' being somewhat younger.

Google Glass and Spectacles are not even close to the same customer base. Google glass was a luxury beta product for techies with lots of disposable income. Spectacles are targeted towards 15-25yr olds. Google Glass users wanted to use the "future" of technology where as spectacles users want to Snap and share more. I'm surprised their hasn't been nearly the same adverse reaction to spectacles as there was to glass.…

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Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#215
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, Google glasses were an obtrusive form of eyewear with limited AR capabilities—with a price tag of $1500. Spectacles are $130.

You are right they are quite a bit cheaper but they are just as obtrusive. I think that glasses (esp. dioptric) are fundamentally a part of your identity and I think that most people fundamentally hate associating themselves with a company not to come across as a 'fanboys'. Like wearing the snapchat glasses projects a certain type of persona which I think most people might prefer not to project. I think that they sho…

Have you heard of Raybans?

The merger of fashion and technology is possible, considering the existing fanboyism of some products and design of smart watches.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm inclined to agree. I was very bearish on Snapchat around the time they rejected the Facebook offer. But more than any other app right now, Snapchat is killing it with users. This is a what a product users love looks like. On top of that, I've been consistently impressed with their technological prowess, even if the AR component seems somewhat inconsequential to me right now. You better believe Snapchat is gunning…

I'm bullish too, but any comparisons to Facebook are lazy. Snapchat and Facebook are completely orthogonal (the closer competition is Instagram, owned by FB, and Snapchat, but even then I would argue it is lazy to say they are direct competitors, ignoring the Instagram Stories product). For better or worse Facebook is a piece of social infrastructure and utility . Everyone has Facebook. All the groups I know of are o…

Yes but money is made through eyeballs and not infrastructure. The most money will go to the app that gets the most viewing.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#217
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Facebook capture user data across many dimensions, and so are able to present advertisers with highly targeted groups of prospects. I don't know if that's the case with Twitter or Snapchat. I would say that the more a site presents you with ads you have no interest in, the less likely it is that they have fine-grained profiles of their users (which is where the money is).

The way it stands, Snapchat already has more data points to tap from and richer content and interaction opportunities than traditional media (television, radio, print, OOH...), and this could be further improved in future versions. You don't need to set out to compete against Google and Facebook when the actual big fish in the market are in fact easier to position yourself against.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the actual big fish in the market. Google's Q2 16 ad revenue was $19.1B, NBC's was $2.1B, CBS's was $1.6B, and ABC's was also $1.6B.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#218
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do facebook and Google make money? Selling ads in social network and search land. Having an enormous, religiously active user base has proven time and time again to be a huge cash cow.

Google ads are something we only see when searching on google. They're easy to tolerate. No one will put up with virtual ads in AR.

Snap chat inserts sponsored content into your feed. The trick is the content is engaging and heavily tailored to their demographics. Lots of celeb gossip, sports news, random stuff you'd normally see in magazine articles. There's certainly a distinct, high potential business opportunity there.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#219

When a company like Uber is raising insane amounts of money I think to myself - "ok, they're working on vehicle automation and other ambitious projects, it makes sense". When a company like snapchat is looking for 4B in addition to existing funding I am left completely dumbfounded. Can someone please explain why they would need this much cash?

The engineering community is sleeping on Snapchat, but shouldn't be. My life is AR. I'm the CEO for an AR company, I speak write and live and breathe all things AR. Snapchat is poised to be the most important AR company around for several reasons. 1. They have a MASSIVE userbase that is comfortable with sharing their lives 2. That userbase has already shown an interest in AR - and yes whether you like it or not their…

what does AR, SLAM, and VRD stand for?

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no way the average user is shooting full 10s snaps 10x day. I use Snapchat regularly and that describes the top eschelon of users, which might be Spectacles users, but probably not all of them. I believe that is a vast overestimate.

As with most statistics it's likely normally distributed. I know teens send/receive in the hundreds per day - mind boggling really - and the celeb accounts post dozens daily. Even back in 2013 the numbers were staggering. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-snaps-snapchat-users...

Nitpick: I would strongly expect that the number of snaps sent/received per day is exponentially distributed over the space of users, not normally.
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