Snap debuts operating system for AR glasses
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People trying Snapchat's new Spectacles glasses. Photo: Snapchat
Snapchat on Tuesday unveiled a new, proprietary operating system to power its fifth generation of augmented reality (AR) Spectacles glasses and other hardware in the future.
Why it matters: Snap CEO Evan Spiegel believes AR hardware, like its smart glasses, will one day become as ubiquitous as phones and tablets are today — and that Snap's early investments in AR software will help the company seal a leading market position.
- "I think glasses allow us to use computing grounded in the real world, together with our friends, and in a much more natural way," Spiegel told Axios in an interview.
Between the lines: The operating system announcement was made at Snap's annual Partner Summit, alongside a slew of new consumer product and business updates.
Here are some highlights of the new software:
- For consumers: Snapchat is testing a new, simplified version of its app that unifies Stories and Spotlight videos and streamlines the app around content and communication — moving Snapchat's app format closer to TikTok's.
- For creators: The company introduced new profile designs to help creators engage with fans. It's also making it easier for creators to share their audience data with advertisers.
- For advertisers: Snap introduced new ad placements and products, such as Sponsored Snaps and the ability for advertisers to promote places on Snap's Map where friends can follow each others' locations.
- For developers, Snap has rebuilt its Lens Studio so that new AR experiences they create can be published not just to Snapchat, but also partners' apps and websites, and to Snapchat Spectacles. The company is also partnering with OpenAI to give developers access to multimodal large language models when creating new Lenses.
The big picture: The vast majority of Snapchat's business today is driven by advertising sold on videos and chats within its app.
- Spiegel said Snap's investment in AR and its own operating system could help to diversify its business model in the future, including expanding its ad business.
- "I think in the early days, our advertising partners will be thinking about how to extend their core brand experiences through Spectacles," Spiegel said.
- Business expansion, Spiegel noted, is "ultimately one of the reasons why we're so excited about glasses."
Zoom out: Snapchat's long-term goal is to become the most developer-friendly platform in the world, Spiegel says. If it can do that, the monetization opportunities are endless, per Speigel.
- "It's going to be really important to empower developers to do what's right for their customers and for their business and to provide those tools to them. So some folks may want to explore advertising, others may want to explore subscription models or purchasing Lenses outright."
- If its new operating system grows popular enough, Snap could one day theoretically license it to other AR hardware makers, similarly to the way Google licenses its Android operation system to other mobile phone makers.
What to watch: Once considered an app mostly for youngsters, Snapchat is now growing up. Today, roughly 80% of Snapchatters are over the age of 18.
- The company said Tuesday its community has grown to over 850 million users globally. Spiegel said it has "a line of sight to reaching over a billion."
