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Snapchat Bets Future ‍on AR Glasses, CEO Calls Spectacles ​Key to Company⁣ Survival

LOS ANGELES, CA – snapchat parent company‍ Snap Inc. is staking its long-term future on the development⁢ and success⁣ of its augmented reality​ (AR)​ glasses, Spectacles, according‌ to a recent open letter from CEO evan Spiegel.Spiegel asserts the ‌need for the⁢ next generation of Spectacles is “urgent,” framing ⁤the device not as a peripheral product, but as essential to navigating a shifting technological landscape⁣ and avoiding intense competition in the smartphone market.

Spiegel highlighted the ‍increasing amount of ⁣time people spend looking at​ screens – exceeding seven hours daily‌ – and the transformative impact of artificial⁣ intelligence on work​ processes, moving from​ file and app management to agent supervision. He also noted the rising costs of physical product manufacturing.

The CEO envisions a future where ⁤”physical products can be replaced by photons,” reducing waste and‌ fostering a new digital economy.Snap aims to capitalize ‌on this potential,differentiating its AR offering by prioritizing AI integration over simply replicating the smartphone experience.

“Spams is not forcibly put ⁤in today’s phone app‍ in the glasses.​ It means a transition from⁣ the app paradigm to AI priority – personalized, contextually, shared experience,” spiegel wrote. He described potential applications‌ including⁤ viewing 3D prototypes with ⁢colleagues, exploring biological concepts through virtual bodies, and interacting with friends’ physical spaces digitally.

Spiegel believes the Spectacles‍ operating system will evolve to be “personalized with‍ context ​and memory,”‍ increasing in value⁤ over time. He defines the AR market ​as a “huge business opportunity,” capable of replacing multiple physical screens.

Snap faces‍ fierce competition in the extended reality ​(XR) space from major tech companies including Meta, Google, Samsung, and Apple, all developing ‌their own XR devices – encompassing mixed reality headsets like the meta quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro, smart glasses like Rayvan⁤ Metana and google Android XR Glass, and AR glasses⁣ like Meta’s Orion prototype.

To accelerate development, Snap plans to ‌launch an internal ⁢”accelerator-type association” comprised of 5-7 teams of 10-15 people, operating on a “90-day mission cycle” with⁤ “weekly demo days” and a culture that embraces rapid iteration and failure.

Spiegel ​concluded that Spectacles represent a path‌ “beyond the limits of smartphones, ⁣beyond red‍ ocean competition, to generations heading to human-centered computing.”