Snapchat’s first foray into hardware made a bit of a splash back in 2016, with its Snap Spectacles failing big time. The company reportedly sold more than 150 thousand Snap Spectacles, but it did overestimated demand for the product, leading to massive piles of stock sitting around in warehouses untouched. But the company isn’t deterred by this and is planning to give this whole wearable gadget thing another try. A new listing on the FCC website with description “wearable video camera” made by Snap Inc. confirms the news.
Snap Spectacles
Snap Spectacles are basically a pair of fashionable glasses with a built-in camera that you can use to record 10 second of video and share it with your Snapchat contacts. However, the gadget could never stand true to all the buzz it created. Its failure was also coupled by the fact that it was available only from one of a handful of vendors. But this didn’t stop Snap, and the company is now all set to launch the Snap Spectacles model 002 soon.
The FCC document don’t reveal much details about the gadget, but it does have “Spectacles” branding and “Model 002” printed on the packing label. It comes with support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 (BLE).
Last month a report from Cheddar claimed Snapchat was actually working on two new models of its wearable camera. A generation-2 model for 2018 with improved performance and bug fixes, probably the one we’re currently looking at. The company is also working on a third-generation wearable for 2019 with two cameras, GPS, and a price tag of up to $300.
Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have ventured into the hardware business with varying levels of success in recent years. But I don’t understand why Snapchat is once again bothering about something that nobody actually wants. Who needs a pair of sunglasses that can record short videos that are uploaded to Snapchat? We already have a phone that can do that.
But it is to note that finding a product in the FCC’s database isn’t a guarantee it’ll go on sale. It still remains to be seen if Snapchat have the guts to sell the new Spectacles after the original fiasco.
