Snap spins off Specs Inc, Spectacles smart glasses will launch later this year

As the smart glasses market heats up, Snap Inc. (the company behind Snapchat) is doing some corporate restructuring in preparation for the launch of its Spectacles smart glasses later this year.

The company is spinning off Specs Inc. as a wholly-owned subsidiary. It says that this move will provide “greater operational focus and alignment” with the new market segment. Snap plans to remain the majority shareholder but says there is a potential for outside investments and partnerships. This will also offer a clearer valuation of the smart glasses business since it won’t be entangled with the company’s social network business.

Anyway, the glasses, called Spectacles, are coming later this year and will be used for work and play. Snap envisions that you will use the glasses on your own and in groups (be it with family or coworkers) to learn in a simulated environment or review a virtual design of a new product.

The core of this will be the “first-of-its-kind Intelligence System” that is said to understand the world around you and will offer more interactivity with voice and gesture controls.

Interestingly, Snap is trying to position this as a green initiative – it says that many real-world objects will be replaced by virtual ones, e.g. whiteboards and TVs, as well as toys. And as consumers need fewer physical goods, there will be less e-waste produced – electrons are infinitely recyclable!

This sounds good, but we’re not sure how practical it is – yes, Spectacles can replace a whiteboard (but how much waste does a whiteboard create, anyway?). But their ability to replace a TV will depend on screen quality – and we don’t know much about the screen yet. As for toys, well, games already exist and haven’t replaced physical toys, so we’ll see.

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