Aug 13, 2019
Snap tries (again) with hardware: Spectacles 3 Read More Forward to your 1 friend who will actually get these... For a cool $380, they too can strut around in a pair of Snap's Spectacles 3. A limited number go on sale here in November, featuring a new HD camera to create depth perception as you semi-creepily record everyone around you. We consider the design pseudo-Coachella-geek-hipster chic.
If at first you don't succeed... spend a lot of company resources to try 2 more times. Here's the social network's timeline/quest to add hardware to its app success:
Spectacles 1 (2017): A $130-per-pair costly mistake — Snap sold them via pop-up vending machine, but made way more glasses than the 150K that were actually sold, costing it $40M.
Spectacles 2 (2018): A $150 thinner mistake — Snap made the glasses narrower and waterproof, but they didn't catch on, either.
Spectacles 3 (Now): A $380 potential mistake obsessed with augmented reality — It definitely prices out most of Snap's teen userbase, but 3D filters make your walk to work look actually interesting.The Takeaway:Friction is the problem... There's nothing wrong with a tech company testing out a wearable device like Spectacles — but Snapchat still hasn't fixed problems that make them hard to use. Example: Footage taken on Spectacles doesn't automatically transfer to your Snapchat account. (Friction). That's why over half of Spectacles 1 & 2 users quit after a month.
Jun 12, 2019
Snapchat's freaky face filters doubled app downloads Read More All the cool kids are doing it... Last month, Snap whipped out two new filters — One transformed your face into a baby's, the other switched your gender. The result for society: Good material to share/scare your friends, big conversations on "gender," and it was used to catch a pedophile.
But we just got the results for Snapchat... and they were big:
600K: The number of Snapchat downloads/day worldwide before the baby/gender switcheroo filters.
1.5M+: Daily downloads of the app after the filters hit, according to a report.The Takeaway:But will it be copied?... Back in 2016, Snapchat was the fastest-growing social network in the US. Then "inspired" Facebook "replicated" its features (first Stories, now Bitmoji). When Snapchat debuted its Lens filters in 2015, Facebook even acquired facial-recognition startup Msqrd to build its own filters. Snapchat's #GenderSwitch needs IP protection from the 'Book so it can get loyalty from you.
Jul 9, 2019
Snap stock has subtly/shockingly almost tripled since February Read More Something happened over Spring Break... Snapchat changed. Parent company Snap shares have nearly tripled since February, driven by analysts upgrading their price targets for the stock. And that's been driven by Snapchat strengthening — and then flexing — the two biceps of tech apps: growth and engagement.
Left Bicep = "Growth"... The last time Snap updated us in March it had 190M daily active users. To grow beyond that, it's made two key moves:
Viral filters: That gender-swapping filter in May more than doubled the number of daily app downloads from 600K to 1.5M.
New app: Finally updating its glitchy Android app increased the number of people snapping by 6%.
Right Bicep = "Engagement"... To enhance the time users spend in the app, Snapchat launched games in April:
Bitmoji Party: Snapchat's 1st original game was deeply multi-playered so you could spend time with your friends' digitally-better-looking avatar versions of themselves.
Bitmoji Tennis: Just launched last week, the new game lets you hit a microphone button to yell at your opponent — without having to leave the app.
The Takeaway:Snapchat is covering steps #1 and #2 (growth and engagement)... Now it's gotta focus on Step #3: making money. A shocking 90% of all Americans age 13-24 use Snapchat, so the app's trying to monetize them through ads — and its revenues impressively rose 39% in the 1st quarter. But investors eventually want profits, and that means nailing step #3 as it flexes its growth and engagement. 
