There is much reason to believe that Snapchat is going for the smart glasses market. Therefore, this might mean that there will be more “snaps” but they are taken in a whole new perspective. But what of the device? Is it really one that might even rival the likes of Google Glass? Nonetheless, the social media startup is looking to hire hardware experts for an unknown project.
Snapchat Might Have Plans on Building Wearable Tech
Snapchat is now currently valued at $16 billion USD (at the time of writing) and the firm responsible for the popular social media app now has almost a dozen wearable technology professionals within the company’s ranks. Aside from said experts, they also have industrial engineers who have worked with Nokia phones and Logitech’s UE Boom Bluetooth speaker.
Looking at their employees’ profiles, the Snapchat app (which has about 100 million daily users) has never produced any physical product. Well, that is if you disregard some merchandise such as backpacks and beach towels. With the recent job hires, it would suggest that the Los Angeles-based startup is now working on a piece of hardware that will be marketed to consumers. Should this succeed, users might be able to think more about the app to be more than just your normal social network tool for sharing pictures (that disappear).
A VR entrepreneur, who is not authorized to speak about a potential competitor, stated, “If they are actually investing in new tech, that could be great. They probably know that most apps in their situation have a limited lifespan and monetization potential.”
It is known that Facebook had bought Oculus for $2 billion, and this trend continues on as Snapchat has also bought Vergence Labs back in 2014. Vergence Labs is the known startup who created Google Glass (which is made to look like eyewear but has certain modern functionalities such as recording video). Out of the 12 former Vergence Labs employees, there are still 5 that are currently working at the Los Angeles startup. Two of those are consumer product designers which are joined by the co-founder of the company.
Snapchat was founded back in 2011 by three Standford University students. The app started out as a convenient way to share photos that would “self-destruct” after a few seconds. The concept behind this is so the people will be free from the fear of having awkward pictures of themselves that might otherwise be shared online by hundreds or thousands of other netizens around the globe.