Snapchat just released its first piece of hardware and it’s a smartglass. Not an AR nor a VR device, just a pair of sunglasses with a camera which records 10 seconds video clips that get posted on the Snapchat app.
At a first sight they look like an average pair of sunglasses, with the difference that they have a camera at their edge which records video clips when the user presses a little button.
Nothing revolutionary in terms of technology, but the concept is innovative because it mixes social networks and smartglass and it does it without making you look weird.
What’s the secret formula?
What makes the Spectacles more likely to have a huge success compared to other innovative smartglass products is a series of factors that will send a message to AR and VR headsets manufacturers.
They are nice, they look normal. They are cheap, you can get one pair for 130$. They are light and unobtrusive. Finally, they are fun. Mostly features you can’t find on currents AR smartglass and this is the formula others will copy.
But how will the Snapchat Spectacles make a favor to Augmented Reality?
What Snapchat will achieve is smartglass acceptance because you won’t look weird wearing them. So when AR smartglass will be consumer-ready, people will already be used to them and society will accept them just like many other devices which have gone through the same process in the past.
