Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP) has been up to a lot this April. The social media platform introduced Group Video Chat earlier in the month, and in the last week, they’ve launched Snappables (new lenses for playing augmented reality games) and today unveiled a new version of its video recording sunglasses, a slightly smaller, water-resistant pair with a $149.99 price tag.
While the new spectacles look remarkably similar to the original version launched in 2016, the Vol. 2 shades offer a ton of new features:
· The first set of Spectacles only allowed a user to record video. Now You can take a pictures.
· Better quality hardware! The Spectacles are equipped with HD image and video rendering, with a second speaker for better audio pickup. The company also says you can transfer videos and pictures to your phone up to four times faster than the original pair.
· This version is water-resistant up to 1 meter deep and for about 30 minutes at a time, according to a spokesperson in a released company statement. Perfect for those beach days on the shore.
· All hail the aesthetics. The spectacles can now be purchased in several colors: onyx (black), ruby (red) and sapphire (blue), as well as new lenses.
Ok, but all that said – this is a pointless move for Snapchat. You’re a company with a rapidly failing stock price, a universally hated redesign/update, and your big innovation move is to create a second variation on glasses that tanked once already? Hard pass, Spiegel.
Realistically speaking, the spectacles provide very little meaningful revenue for the company, whose 2017 fiscal year depended on 97% ad revenue. And the first go notched a $40 billion dollar loss for the company after only selling 220,000 pairs.
“Ultimately we made the wrong decision,” said CEO Evan Spiegel at the time. “We’re learning from it.”
But have you, really? Only time will tell. But, at least the marketing for the spectacles is top notch. I can almost, almost see myself wearing these around NYC this summer – along with that fanny pack I refuse to buy.
