Snapchat was a hugely popular app that allowed users to share quickly-disappearing messages. But now the company is moving into the hardware business. Only hours after the tech media started picking up on hints of the product's existence, Snapchat has announced (via a long Wall Street Journal profile published on Friday night) that they are releasing their very first physical product, a special pair of glasses called Spectacles. The company is also changing its name to Snap Inc.
Spectacles contain a camera. Each time you press a button on the glasses, you record up to ten seconds of video, which can be easily connected to a smartphone.
According to the Journal, the camera on Spectacles uses a much wider lens than a normal cellphone camera, and records more "circular" video, intended to be "closer to human vision."
Spectacles will retail for $129.99, and will have "limited distribution," at least at first. But the company's hopes for the product are pretty high. Company founder Evan Spiegel revealed to the Journal that he sees Snapchat as a camera company, rather than a social media company.
While the development of Spectacles was a closely-guarded secret, many people suspected that something along those lines was coming when Snapchat purchased Vergence Labs, a company that made video cameras contained in eyeglasses, back in 2014 for $15 million.
Just hours before the announcement became public, Business Insider published leaked video of what appears to be a commercial for Spectacles, which you can see here. The video was briefly on YouTube, but was quickly taken down.
