Video Sunglasses

Snapchat appears to be making a shift away from messages that disappear after being viewed to creating video “Memories.” In a recent announcement, the company revealed plans to launch a new line of video-enabled sunglasses while changing its name to Snap, Inc.

According to the announcement, Spectacles (as the new glasses are called) will be available “soon.” Touted as having one of the smallest wireless cameras in the world, the integrated video system will record images from the perspective of the wearer with a 115-degree field of view, and is capable of capturing a full day’s worth of video snippets on a single charge. The glasses connect to Snap software using Bluetooth or WiFi.

So what makes Snap think that Spectacles will be more successful than Google Glass? With more than 100 million registered current users generating a reported 10 billion videos per day, the company is likely banking on its built-in user base. But, more importantly, it’s been rumored that Spectacles will be priced at under $150 a pair, compared with $1,500 for Glass.