After changing the orthodox ways of chatting, video messaging application Snapchat is now reportedly working to give tough competition to Google with its own augmented reality (AR) “smart” glasses. According to a TechCrunch report, Snapchat has hired developers from major augmented reality groups like Microsoft’s HoloLens, PTC’s (formerly Qualcomm’s) Vuforia and eye-tracking tech maker Eyefluence to make Snapchat’s pair of “smart” glasses. The company showed interest when Google launched Glass. Snapchat later bought Vergence Labs, which produced a pair of glasses equipped with an embedded camera for $15 million in March 2014. Snapchat soon bought Scan.me for $50 million, a QR code-scanning/creating technology that would later manifest itself it the company’s Snaptags feature. Snapchat has introduced some bold and stunning content features since the inception of its service. It attempted to revamp event marketing through its feature Stories, redefined journalism through Discover and changed the selfie clicking style through Lenses.
