There was a time when Google Glass seemed like a gadget everyone would someday utilise. Ads and videos elevated it to the highest of positions when it came to augmented reality and then developer kits started being rolled out and numerous reasons, such as a perceived invasion of privacy, resulted in it toppling. While Google may be working on a second Google Glass in secrecy, another company may also be working in secret on their version of an optical wearable: Snapchat.
While SnapGlass doesn’t flow off the tongue smoothly it could be something the company is working on as they’ve hired nearly a dozen wearable technology experts as well as industrial designers who have worked with Nokia and Logitech, formerly for smartphones and the latter for a popular speaker. While the industrial designers don’t necessarily fit with the whole wearable theory it is an intriguing hire since Snapchat has never produced a physical product. The employment of the industrial designers adds further credence to the idea that the company may be developing a wearable gadget.
In 2014, Snapchat acquired Vergence Labs, a company that makes similar gadgets to Google Glass that can record a video of what the wearer sees. Snapchat in 2014 purchased Vergence Labs, a startup that makes Google Glass-like eyewear that records video of what the wearer sees. Five former Vergence Labs employees still work at Snapchat. A similar piece of wearable hardware that has a camera would revolutionise the way people takes snaps; right now people would have to pull out their smartphones and either tap to take a picture or hold down the shutter button to take a video (a method which Snapchat patented.) With a wearable gadget, Snapchatters could instead say something along the lines of “Snapchat this” whilst looking at something.
Perhaps the best evidence for smart glasses is that Snapchat has an eyewear designer on its team. Lauryn Morris created frames for Michael Kors, Innovega and Zac Posen, according to her personal website. Her LinkedIn profile says she joined Snapchat in November 2014, around the time of the Vergence Labs acquisition.
Source: CNET
