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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

#221

Post by thesehands »

henrygrew wrote: post #219
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

AR: Augmented Reality SLAM: Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping VRD: Virtual Retinal Display

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

#222

Post by erikpukinskis »

beambot wrote: post #152
untog wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can trot out that 640k comment to sell any piece of technology, it doesn't make it true. I could have said the same about Google Glass.

Indeed you could. And sometimes you'd be right; other times you'd be dead wrong. If you could be right even half the time, you'd be rich as all get out. Which is why I would suggest: Don't make overreaching bold predictions (or become an investor).

Being right about half of failures isn't worth anything. You can't short SnapChat Spectacles.

You need to be right about half of successes, which is much harder for a raging pessimist like OP.

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

#223

Post by [deleted] »

henrygrew wrote: post #219
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

[deleted]

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

#224

Post by [deleted] »

beambot wrote: post #134
simooooo wrote: post #132

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.

Famous last words. Reminds me of the old adage: "640k of memory is all that anybody with a computer would ever need." I already know a lot of younger folks that are pumped about the Snapchat glasses... (I'm not saying you're wrong... I just wouldn't make such steadfast predictions about the future either. But then again, I don't understand SnapChat and am not their target audience.)

[deleted]

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

#225

Post by colejohnson66 »

eksemplar wrote: post #204
eternalban wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fairy ad business model. Don't know about Facebook (never been) but I keep hearing about this fabled Google Ad business and honestly, not only I can't recall the last time I even noticed one, needless to say have never even clicked on one. Some interested party wants to keep these surveillance cum social networks afloat and the fairy ad business model and overblown evaluations and VC cash is the front for funding…

You can't use google much if you haven't noticed the top three results on your searches sometimes being tagged with the word "sponsored". Unless the reason it's showing here, is an European law thing?

They say it here in America. But uBlock blocks it :)

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

#226

Post by estefan »

reneherse wrote: post #160
mahyarm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.spectacles.com/

My intuition is that these will be a hit. Simple, fun, youthful & on trend, not fussy to charge, huge captive userbase to sell to. Can you turn them around and use the mirrored lenses to take a selfie? Snap probably has a winner here if their users will further embrace the idea of turning cameras away from their faces and onto their friends and experiences. How big an "if" that is, I can't yet say.

I think they're too trendy looking. They'll be fine for a season/uni semester, but after that will drop out of fashion. And they'll be too pricey for their core demographic to keep buying new ones.

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

#227

Post by fooker »

flukus wrote: post #197
niftich wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure. Even with their rudimentary pre-AR camera filters, some were pretty popular and successful [1]. The Gatorade dunk filter generated 160 million impressions and the company was very pleased [2] -- and people seemed to like it. The filters are also interesting because they involve user choice: the ads are not unsolicited; rather, they are picked by the users. That's pretty interesting. We've had in-game…

> In some settings, AR could include a density of advertising -- passive or interactive -- similar to the real world without much trouble. In fact, an AR setting devoid of any commercial presence may be unsettling on its own. I'm going to use it to block IRL advertising, not replace it.

Adblock made an April Fool's video about this!

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

#228

Post by elorant »

simooooo wrote: post #132
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

If they license the technology to premium brands, say Prada, Calvin Klein etc. everyone will buy them. Especially their target group which is primarily youngsters.

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

#229

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

matt_wulfeck wrote: post #216
argonaut wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> The most money will go to the app that gets the most viewing.

...and figures out how to draw consistent revenue from that. Snapchat is making $365m this year in revenue, projecting $1b next year, and has a newly launched ads API.

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

#230

Post by Disruptive_Dave »

devilsavocado wrote: post #37
cblock811 wrote: post #3

I have yet to speak with anyone who thinks Snapchat's valuation is realistic and that their business model will sustain them. When I see this I just think of Twitter all over again. I would love to hear arguments supporting Snapchat though.

This is my takeaway from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers 2016 internet trends presentation. http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends Some I agree with, some I think is hyperbole. Snapchat's Ads are effective. More effective than anything else on the internet or other apps. They are authentic, entertaining, in-context and brief. They follow the 3Vs: Vertical (Made for Mobiles) / Video (Great Way to Tell Story) / Viewing (…

My questions re: "effectiveness" is what can they do beyond brand awareness? Can Snapchat capture advertisers who are more interested in CPC than CPM? Can it drive sales in a meaningful way? Maybe it doesn't matter, as brand awareness advertising is a big money game and somebody has to replace traditional TV (and even magazine) spend.
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