Snap returned to promote its high-priced smart glasses, Specs, presenting software and service updates intended to clarify the device’s role after a rocky debut earlier this year. The original reveal prompted online jeers, calls for Evan Spiegel to resign, and a drop in Snap’s stock, according to reports.
Product updates and AI features
At an event in Los Angeles, Snap showed entertainment integrations that let Specs connect with HBO Max and Spotify, and launched what it calls Specs Intelligence. The company describes Specs Intelligence as an “anticipatory AI” that builds an understanding of a user’s goals, priorities, relationships, and routines from connected apps and devices.
Evan Spiegel framed the system as “an AI native operating system with intelligence designed around your projects,” and said it helps “connect the dots across Lenses,” Snap’s term for AR camera effects. Snap presented the capability as usable with phones and Macs as well as with Specs; company materials suggested it can operate like an AI productivity assistant that does not strictly require the glasses.
Enterprise push, demos and other experiences
Snap announced Specs for Enterprise and partnerships with firms including Amazon, Salesforce and Nvidia, positioning the hardware for corporate workflows. In a demo, the company showed an IT technician using the glasses to assist with hardware repair; Snap said it is building mobile device management, security controls and deployment tools aimed at IT departments.
Other announced experiences included an NBA and WNBA partnership to create an AR basketball practice app. Snap also introduced a separate connectivity package with a charging case that provides cellular access via a Verizon partnership. Snap said Verizon customers will pay $10 per month for that connectivity and non-Verizon customers $20 per month.
Spiegel characterized Specs as a new form of personal computing and criticized narratives that technology should replace people, saying computers should “make us more important, not less,” according to his remarks at the event.
Snap will host a Specs pop-up in Los Angeles in October before the devices ship later this fall. The retail price of the glasses is $2,200, and the optional Verizon-enabled connectivity is offered at $10/month for Verizon customers and $20/month for non-Verizon customers.
Original source: TechCrunch AI