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> Don't underestimate the power of social signaling. You mean the social signaling that is going to brand these users as "glassholes" as well? >At $129 this i

> Don't underestimate the power of social signaling. You mean the social signaling that is going to brand these users as "glassholes" as well? >At $129 this is a no-brainer. Please step out of your tech bubble. Most snapchat users are teenagers or college-age persons who absolutely do not have $129 to drop on a pair of novelty sunglasses.

berberous 10y ago
Cheaper than a pair of raybans, which are fairly ubiquitous. If they are successful, the price will drop too. If the hardware is minimal, and people like the design, why not buy these instead of whatever other sunglasses they were going to buy and get a fun toy as well?
- yolesaber 10y ago
  Raybans actually look nice and maintain their value. These look like they were designed by a committee that googled "cool millennial"
- memonkey 10y ago
  All the young 20 something year olds that I know are still not dropping $120 on sun glasses unless they are young college graduated professionals. Most are not. And I'm a 28 year old professional that wears $10 knock offs.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
dilap 10y ago
Kanye did one of his popup stores near my house recently. Line of teenagers two blocks long waiting to buy $400 T-shirts. If it's cool, they'll find the $.
- yolesaber 10y ago
  Kanye is cool and his clothes have massive resale value. Clunky nerd gadgets spotlighted in the WSJ have neither.
  - dilap 10y ago
    snapchat is cool. whether these glasses will be cool...who knows, but they certainly have a good shot at it.
nwjtkjn 10y ago
These are the same teenagers/college-age persons who own $600+ iPhones.
- yolesaber 10y ago
  Most phones are subsidized by wireless contracts.
  - Johnny555 10y ago
    Cell phones aren't subsidized, they are just financed over 2 years (with the payment often hidden in your monthly cell phone bill). If the price of the glasses is a problem (I doubt it is), they could be financed the same way "Just give us $11/month for a year and you can have them today!"
    - vonmoltke 10y ago
      That's becoming more common but is not universal yet. Phones often still are subsidized, even when the buyer is still paying something for the phone.
      - maxerickson 10y ago
        The phone-sized early termination fees put the lie to it being any sort of subsidy. (for "subsidy" to be a reasonable description of the flow of funds, the phone company would probably have to be losing money on the most expensive phones; of course they aren't. They provide the phone up front with a minimal payment, but they have structured the monthly fees to more than cover their costs for doing this.)
        vonmoltke 10y ago
        Except they charge me the same rate if I already have my device as the person in the long-term contract, just without the early termination fee. If they have structured the locked-in person's contract to cover hardware costs then they have structured mine for that as well, despite the fact that I didn't get hardware from them. Therefore, I am paying part of the hardware costs for the people who buy phones from the provider; i.e. I am subsidizing them. Furthermore, early termination fees are constant for all contracts. The person who got the $150 phone has the same termination fee as the person who got the $600 phone. Thus again, someone is subsidizing someone else.

berberous 10y ago

Cheaper than a pair of raybans, which are fairly ubiquitous. If they are successful, the price will drop too. If the hardware is minimal, and people like the design, why not buy these instead of whatever other sunglasses they were going to buy and get a fun toy as well?

yolesaber 10y ago
Raybans actually look nice and maintain their value. These look like they were designed by a committee that googled "cool millennial"
memonkey 10y ago
All the young 20 something year olds that I know are still not dropping $120 on sun glasses unless they are young college graduated professionals. Most are not. And I'm a 28 year old professional that wears $10 knock offs.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

dilap 10y ago

Kanye did one of his popup stores near my house recently. Line of teenagers two blocks long waiting to buy $400 T-shirts. If it's cool, they'll find the $.

yolesaber 10y ago
Kanye is cool and his clothes have massive resale value. Clunky nerd gadgets spotlighted in the WSJ have neither.
- dilap 10y ago
  snapchat is cool. whether these glasses will be cool...who knows, but they certainly have a good shot at it.

nwjtkjn 10y ago

These are the same teenagers/college-age persons who own $600+ iPhones.

yolesaber 10y ago
Most phones are subsidized by wireless contracts.
- Johnny555 10y ago
  Cell phones aren't subsidized, they are just financed over 2 years (with the payment often hidden in your monthly cell phone bill). If the price of the glasses is a problem (I doubt it is), they could be financed the same way "Just give us $11/month for a year and you can have them today!"
  - vonmoltke 10y ago
    That's becoming more common but is not universal yet. Phones often still are subsidized, even when the buyer is still paying something for the phone.
    - maxerickson 10y ago
      The phone-sized early termination fees put the lie to it being any sort of subsidy. (for "subsidy" to be a reasonable description of the flow of funds, the phone company would probably have to be losing money on the most expensive phones; of course they aren't. They provide the phone up front with a minimal payment, but they have structured the monthly fees to more than cover their costs for doing this.)
      - vonmoltke 10y ago
        Except they charge me the same rate if I already have my device as the person in the long-term contract, just without the early termination fee. If they have structured the locked-in person's contract to cover hardware costs then they have structured mine for that as well, despite the fact that I didn't get hardware from them. Therefore, I am paying part of the hardware costs for the people who buy phones from the provider; i.e. I am subsidizing them. Furthermore, early termination fees are constant for all contracts. The person who got the $150 phone has the same termination fee as the person who got the $600 phone. Thus again, someone is subsidizing someone else.