Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 165 posts

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#61

Post by rtkwe »

hkmurakami wrote: post #51
mathperson wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me an error they don't offer a prescription version yet

Selling prescription eye wear in the United States seems to come with a lot of red tape. I don't think they want to get in the business of requesting and verifying an eye exam within the last 12 months before selling a one size fits all consumer item.

Do you really have to to just provide frames though? Couldn't they just sell empty frames and have optometrists install and request lenses. I think that's how most frames work now.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#62

Post by rtkwe »

wcummings wrote: post #32

They're not even available where I live, can't say I'm surprised.

You can just order them via Amazon now. I think the initial exclusivity worked ok to build a bit of excitement and hype around what probably would have been a lackluster launch if they'd just dropped them onto Amazon. Though even with that all the people I've seen using them were mocking them half the time for being ridiculous.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#63

Post by dmix »

relyks wrote: post #8

They may need to have better marketing, like have an ad that mentions it in the app. I didn't know that Spectacles are selling on Amazon now and I don't believe many people know either. I think most assume that they're still being sold at those exclusive kiosks.

I also went to the website https://www.spectacles.com and I had no idea what they were until I googled other news articles about it.

- Extremely vague besides "push a button to record video".

- No mention of battery power, length of charge, app integration, quality of video, etc, etc.

- It seems to be only targeted at women? There's no pictures of men wearing them.

- What do the sides of the glasses look like? All pictures are the front angle. Does it look bulkier because it has a camera?

- I see a prominent "Find a Snapbot" button, I had no idea "Snapbot" meant pop-up store until I read about it in a news article.

I could go on...

The pictures are visually appealing but having zero sales copy was a terrible idea. How can you sell something without explaining it?

I too would have liked to see an Amazon link, I prefer using that over a custom online shop every time. And Amazon forces them to write an actual description about what the product does.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#64

Post by rayuela »

bjl wrote: post #55
rayuela wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still think there's a lot of potential to Spectacles. It seems like they fell to the wayside with all the distraction from the IPO, but I hope it's something they focus in on going forward. I think making it socially acceptable to wear a camera on your face is a problem that very few companies can pull off. I hope their tumbling share price lights a fire under their ass and forces them to take the risk necessary to…

Why in the world would you want to make it socially acceptable to wear a camera on your face?

For AR to ever take off it needs to be ok to wear a camera on your face. I just happen to think the AR space is brimming with potential.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#65

Post by coldtea »

nrhk wrote: post #35
swiftting wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes polished however what are the TRUE use cases for them ? What problem are they solving for the average consumer to gain wide adoption?

Frictionless sharing of your life with the people who matter to you. We've continuously reduced the friction it takes to share experiences with one another, spectacles is another step in that direction.

>Frictionless sharing of your life with the people who matter to you.

We have the opposite problem. How to add friction to that sharing...

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#66

Post by tinfoilboy »

relyks wrote: post #8

They may need to have better marketing, like have an ad that mentions it in the app. I didn't know that Spectacles are selling on Amazon now and I don't believe many people know either. I think most assume that they're still being sold at those exclusive kiosks.

Funny that you mention "an ad in the app," They're running a Spectacles story right now in the app.

Also, sometimes when watching other people's stories, I see Spectacles ads. Though, the Spectacles story might be tucked away by like, the Daily Mail and the other sponsored stories.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#67

Post by slackoverflower »

vm wrote: post #37
pavlov wrote: post #6

Based on my brief exposure, Spectacles is a very polished product. Everything about it had an aura of breezy, forward-moving fun that is usually absent from tech: the purchase experience at a super-cute vending machine that displays a rendering of the glasses on your face; the yellow carrying case that doubles as extra battery for the glasses; the effortless installation experience; even the round video that invites…

They're doomed by the slow UX for uploading: 1) record w/o really knowing how the content is coming out (it's like stepping back into the Kodak age after using an iPhone for 10 years), 2) open Snap app, 3) reconnect the Bluetooth for 1-2 min because the connection is crap from the glasses to my phone, 4) upload all the videos from my glasses which takes another 1-2 min, 5) select specific video snips to share, 6) sel…

I don't think your the target audience. Snapchat UX is amazing and an entire generation uses for all communication purposes. Facebook of OUR time.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#68

Post by losteric »

nrhk wrote: post #35
swiftting wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes polished however what are the TRUE use cases for them ? What problem are they solving for the average consumer to gain wide adoption?

Frictionless sharing of your life with the people who matter to you. We've continuously reduced the friction it takes to share experiences with one another, spectacles is another step in that direction.

In my experience, the lack of friction has not been a positive... meaningful experiences and events are reduced to social media spam. Quantity over quality.

As a producer and consumer, I prefer the pre-FB days because the bar was high.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#69

Post by ztjio »

nrhk wrote: post #35
swiftting wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes polished however what are the TRUE use cases for them ? What problem are they solving for the average consumer to gain wide adoption?

Frictionless sharing of your life with the people who matter to you. We've continuously reduced the friction it takes to share experiences with one another, spectacles is another step in that direction.

Well they completely failed at that, then. They are anything but frictionless as described elsewhere in the comments. Bad user experiences abound after purchase.

Re: Snap sold fewer than 42K Spectacles, down 35% in Q2

#70

Post by ben174 »

dmix wrote: post #63
relyks wrote: post #8

They may need to have better marketing, like have an ad that mentions it in the app. I didn't know that Spectacles are selling on Amazon now and I don't believe many people know either. I think most assume that they're still being sold at those exclusive kiosks.

I also went to the website https://www.spectacles.com and I had no idea what they were until I googled other news articles about it. - Extremely vague besides "push a button to record video". - No mention of battery power, length of charge, app integration, quality of video, etc, etc. - It seems to be only targeted at women? There's no pictures of men wearing them. - What do the sides of the glasses look like? All pi…

I think the mysteriousness is part of the marketing. Makes them seem more obscure and thus desirable to some.
Post reply on HN