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Snap tries (again) with hardware: Spectacles 3

Snacks / Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Forward to your 1 friend who will actually get these... For a cool $380, they too can strut around in a pair of Snap's Spectacles 3. A limited number go on sale here in November, featuring a new HD camera to create depth perception as you semi-creepily record everyone around you. We consider the design pseudo-Coachella-geek-hipster chic.

If at first you don't succeed... spend a lot of company resources to try 2 more times. Here's the social network's timeline/quest to add hardware to its app success:

  • Spectacles 1 (2017): A $130-per-pair costly mistake — Snap sold them via pop-up vending machine, but made way more glasses than the 150K that were actually sold, costing it $40M.
  • Spectacles 2 (2018): A $150 thinner mistake — Snap made the glasses narrower and waterproof, but they didn't catch on, either.
  • Spectacles 3 (Now): A $380 potential mistake obsessed with augmented reality — It definitely prices out most of Snap's teen userbase, but 3D filters make your walk to work look actually interesting.

Friction is the problem... There's nothing wrong with a tech company testing out a wearable device like Spectacles — but Snapchat still hasn't fixed problems that make them hard to use. Example: Footage taken on Spectacles doesn't automatically transfer to your Snapchat account. (Friction). That's why over half of Spectacles 1 & 2 users quit after a month.

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