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Give credit where credit is due. Spiegel is digging deep, showing humility, and asking the right questions after Snap has been flailing for a long time. The cru
by mindgam3 8y ago
Give credit where credit is due. Spiegel is digging deep, showing humility, and asking the right questions after Snap has been flailing for a long time. The crux of the issue is that they haven't launched anything fundamentally innovative and game-changing since the original Snapchat, which went insanely viral in the teen demographic.
In this sense they are following a similar path as Bebo, where I worked before they were acquired by AOL. Launch viral product to teens, blow up huge, score huge business deals, and then growth stagnates because it turns out the original vision only encompassed a product, not an entire platform. Bebo ended up selling to AOL right before it became clear the entire business model was failing thanks to Facebook. I saw a comment below about 2019 being the year that Snap is acquired. I could very much see that happening.
The only thing that would turn things around is if Spiegel can pull another rabbit out of his hat and launch a category-defining product somewhere. Augmented Reality could be where they do it. They did fail miserably with Spectacles, their first take on smartglasses, but again, give credit to them for having the balls to invest in hardware and ship a product. That said, the fact that they shipped a v2 of Spectacles that didn't fix any of the core problems with the original isn't a good sign.
Still, augmented reality is going to be the future of computing when it merges with consumer wearables. It's early days in this market. Every Big Tech company is racing to launch the iPhone of smartglasses. Snap has managed to be the first to launch consumer glasses with a camera. If they can pull their sh*t together and ship something that is actually useful and doesn't look ridiculous, they could still emerge as a dominant player.
- joering2 8y agoSnap was first? We forgetting Google Glasses I guess. Google tried but clearly market maturity is not there yet. Doubt it will be 2019. We need to squeeze more into chips before a regular-size glasses will be available with AR built in. Also personally I doubt it will be iPhone of AR. Too many companies are working on it and probably will come up to light at the similar time. It will be more like cruise control that so many car makers basically invented at the same time.
- jeffgreco 8y agoI don't think we can consider Google's $1500 "explorer edition" Glass as a consumer product.
- mindgam3 8y agoIt was borderline. But they were clearly supposed to be the precursor to wider scale consumer glasses. Google would never have committed that much time and money if it was originally intended to be an enterprise product.
- mindgam3 8y agoCorrection: first to put camera on glasses with enough fashion sense not to spawn a brand new word to describe just how much their owners looked like Borg assholes. I’m referring of course to “glasshole.” All signs point to Apple launching their glasses in 2019 or maybe 2020 if they slip. I don’t have insider info at Apple but if you look at the rate they are hoovering up AR companies it’s clear they’re prepping for a big move. If they don’t launch by 2019 somebody else will steal their thunder with the first consumer smartglasses that don’t totally suck, most likely a fast moving startup with a killer niche product.
- code_duck 8y agoGlasshole has been used for a long time to describe a personal style of egotistical glass artists. It had a new meaning added.
- justicezyx 8y agooriginal Snapchat was not fundamentally innovative and game-changing...
- mindgam3 8y agoActually, their whole “disappearing messages” thing was perfectly positioned for the teen market as the polar opposite of “post once and it’s there forever” Facebook. I never used it myself, but for a certain subset of people, not just dick pic senders, this was a pretty big differentiator/selling point. Enabling a whole new class of behavior for millions of people. So yeah, although the innovation never progressed beyond a killer feature for some users, it was still... innovative.
- bb2018 8y agoTechnologically maybe - but I think it did define the idea of a social network being primarily (if not entirely) phone/camera based. I had been off social media for years but found Snapchat fun and interesting enough to rejoin (for a few years)
- ponyous 8y ago> That said, the fact that they shipped a v2 of Spectacles that didn't fix any of the core problems with the original isn't a good sign. What are the core problems you are talking about? Personally the biggest issue with me in v1 was how flashy they looked, v2 got rid of that and now it's a great device. I made some really good footage with it. People are missing a really good experience not having it imo.
- mindgam3 8y agoThey toned down the flashiness, that was a step in the right direction. The biggest things holding them back are 1) the camera is still way too conspicuous 2) only post to Snapchat
- e9 8y ago2 -> you can download the video and post it anywhere but yeah it would be nice to have it directly saved to phone rather than snapchat then save to phone
- nickfromseattle 8y agoI believe the output is a circle video instead of the normal rectangle video.
- PaulMest 8y agoYou can export to another platform in circle, square, or widescreen format. Field of View: 105° F-stop: f 2.2 Photos: 1642 x 1642 px Videos: 1216 x 1216 px at 60 fps source: https://www.spectacles.com/shop/nico https://www.spectacles.com/shop/nico