Snap's CEO, Evan Spiegel, is expanding his company's capacity to be more than just a social media platform, heading towards augmented reality (AR) and banning the term "metaverse."
Spiegel stated that his focus with Snap is building an immersive augmented reality with the real world instead of a fully immersive digital universe just like what Mark Zuckerburg is doing with their Metaverse.
"The reason why we don't use that word is because it's pretty ambiguous and hypothetical. Just ask a room of people how to define it, and everyone's definition is totally different," said Spiegel.
Rather than spending their time in a completely virtual world, Spiegel believes that individuals would prefer to spend their time in an augmented real world.
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel on Metaverse
Snap, Snapchat's parent company, is expanding its market today by focusing on augmented reality technology with its newly released AR hardware.
The Snap CEO "snaps" at companies pitching ideas similar to the metaverse. Spiegel told The Verge that these companies "are really talking about something that doesn't exist yet."
He added that this is in contrast to augmented reality, in which "there are 250 million people engaging with AR every day in just the Snapchat application," Those augmented reality interactions range from the silly selfie effects that Snap made popular years ago to more advanced purchasing experiences.
Snap believes and its major bet is that people truly like spending time together in the real world and that this is their most significant commitment. And computing has the potential to significantly enhance this, as well as make it more enjoyable and contribute to shared experiences.
Additionally, Spiegel stated, "But, ultimately, people are going to spend the vast majority of their time in the world because it's really a wonderful place, and that's why we talk with a lot of specificity about the products we have today, about the solutions that exist today, and about the way that people are using our products, rather than talking in hypotheticals."
Snap, venturing into the world of augmented reality, puts itself on the list of big tech companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Sony who are working on making their mark on the future of the industry. Snap is in close competition with Meta as it has been widely known that Mark Zuckerburg is also working on AR glasses.
Meta's first actual set of augmented reality spectacles won't be available until at least 2024, whereas Spiegel currently has AR Spectacles in development that are being tested by developers.
Despite their metaverse differences, Evan Spiegel and Mark Zuckerberg agree that augmented reality glasses will be popular in the future. Zuckerberg has referred to them as the holy grail of technology, while Spiegel has stated that augmented reality glasses will be essential in overlaying computing in the real environment.
Evan Spiegel on Snap Spectacles
Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat, revealed that new augmented reality features will be added to his company's product, Snap Spectacles, which are glasses that overlay an augmented reality layer over the real world.
As Fortune reported, when it comes to the Snap Spectacles, Spiegel stated that "change the way you interact when you can walk around and use your hands, and see computing brought to life."
Aside from that, he also announced the introduction of a drone that follows users and captures images called the Pixy.
The new products, unveiled on Thursday, are part of the ongoing effort by Snap, to branch out from its roots as a social media service. It has been increasingly pushing into hardware devices such as its Spectacles, the first version of which debuted in 2016.
