Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, announced the launch of a range of new features at its annual Snap Partner Summit. Evan Spiegel, CEO and co-founder of the camera, later shared, in an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya English, the latest innovations that Snapchat offers, and most exciting of all, augmented reality.
Asked about the company’s future plans for the metaverse, Spiegel said: “Our focus is on reality. Mostly because we really love the real world, we think people will spend a lot of time in the real world talking to their friends because the real world is nice. So we believe we can increase this with calculations using augmented reality. Our vision is to enlarge the real world instead of replacing it with virtual reality.
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An example of this would be Snapchat’s Bitmoji avatars, a very popular feature in the app that has seen over a billion Bitmoji avatars created since its inception.
“We recently made a drop for Bitmoji’s new fashion; people have tried Nike products two billion times on their avatars. We are very excited to use avatars for self-expression, but our focus is really on how we can activate this in augmented reality and not replace reality with VR, “said the CEO.
With over 600 million monthly and more than 332 million active users daily worldwide, Snap Inc. expand your list of suggestions to include new AR features, some of which can be used for gaming and online shopping, among others.
“We now have 250 million people engaging with AR every day on Snapchat alone, which is so exciting. And I think for us, what was so surprising in such a good way is to see all the amazing things that our community creates that we could never dream of for ourselves.
Snap’s AR capabilities have expanded exponentially over the past few years. What was once a vision for the future has become a reality, with AR being more accessible than ever to millions around the world.
AR shopping
In addition to its steady growth in subscribers, Snap Inc. has also become an attractive company to work for the retail business.
As of January 2021, more than 250 million Snapchat users have engaged in AR shopping lenses more than five billion times. One of the most popular features of the app includes the Try-On feature.
Originally launched in 2020, the trial allows users to use their cameras to try on clothes, accessories, makeup and glasses virtually, allowing them to see the product on themselves while moving in real time.
The company is working with several others to make this happen, helping customers try items before buying them without having to physically undress.
The Snapchat test feature for AR shopping. (Delivered)
“The shopping of AR was the main investment focus for us because the results of the business group were so significant. Companies see results from AR rehearsals, which makes sense because you can try on a bunch of outfits without even having to change your clothes, and it’s a much better user experience; it helps people see what they are comfortable wearing and how they want to express themselves, ”said Spiegel.
During the holy month of Ramadan, Snapchat also launched the first virtual mall in the Middle East and North Africa region, partnering with local brands such as Namshi, al-Futtaim-IKEA and L’Oreal, among others.
A key market for Snapchat, the app has over 75 million users based in the Middle East and North Africa region, an increase of 33 percent year on year in monthly targeting, according to the latest figures, with about 20 million users per month in Saudi Arabia alone. Arabia.
“Much of our focus is on making [try-on tools] easier with 3D asset management. ”
Puma AR Shopping on Snapchat. (Delivered)
Snap’s 3D Asset Manager helps companies build AR shopping by allowing brands to order, manage, and optimize 3D models for each product in their catalog.
He said he was particularly excited about the 2D Try-On.
“What we found when we worked with many of our partners was that they really wanted to create an augmented reality experience. They often do not have 3D assets for their product line, but have many 2D photos of people wearing the product. This allows us to take the retailer’s product catalog and import it into AR so that people can try out all these different outfits in 2D, and it’s a real way for retailers and brands to scale in AR without requires them to create the assets themselves. ”
In addition, Snap can now help its trading partners by introducing its AR Try-On capabilities into their own applications and websites with their camera kit.
Lens Studio and Lens Cloud
Lens Studio, a Snapchat app designed for artists and developers to build AR experiences for users, now has a variety of new features, including advanced tracking technology. At Thursday’s summit, the company unveiled some new features, including Lens Cloud.
Lens Cloud is a freely available collection of backend services that greatly expands what developers can build in AR. Storage, location and multi-user services will unlock more dynamic, practical and interactive AR.
Snapchat: Field Museum The triptych of the dinosaur Sue the Dinosaur. (Delivered)
“We are very excited about Lens Cloud, a suite of cloud services that help developers create lenses. For example, using something called multi-user services allows you to experiment and experience the same AR lens at the same time, whether it’s through glasses or the phone, things like permanent storage or the ability to locate AR assets in the physical world. director I said. “I think the developers will be really excited about this.”
Lens Studio will include Ray Tracing, which makes the elements of AR look very realistic, the company revealed. With Ray Tracing, it will be possible for reflections to shine from AR objects in a way that is true to life, marking the first time an opportunity like this has been scaled to mobile devices.
“In the beginning, when we first created lenses, we created them so that people could express themselves. [such as the] you know, the tongue of the rainbow and the dog’s ears [filters]. When we took these developer tools to Lens Studio and made them available worldwide, we didn’t know what to expect. Fast forward a few years, people have already built up amazing ways to learn sign language, for example, or do a 3D product lesson with our [AR] goggles, walk around the solar system or pretend to be a magician and cast spells, or connect with your friends, ”said Spiegel.
PL.AI Monsters Everywhere, a feature for AR games on Snapchat. (Delivered)
“There are so many amazing things we would never build on our own that our community is great at. And I think that makes us so excited about things like the Snap Partner Summit. We are excited to continue to develop these products because we can’t wait to see what people will do with them. ”
Mini
Gaming partners also create lightweight social games for Snapchat.
Snap introduced Minis in 2020, offering partners a way to use their html5 gaming platform to build social experiences within Snapchat. There are now more than 20 Minis from partners, including Ticketmaster, HBO Max, Headspace and others, who help the community do everything from shopping with friends to registering to vote.
Snap also announced on Thursday the launch of Minis Private Components System, a new feature for developers to add social experiences to Minis such as ratings, reviews, recommendations and more, while protecting user privacy.
“We’ve built a technical solution that injects user data in the last millisecond when displaying the page. So, this allows our community to have these social experiences and, of course, the developers to provide them, but without having to deal with the hassles and regulatory issues surrounding the use of personal data and, of course, protects privacy. of our community, “SPIEGEL explained.
Pixie
The CEO of Snap Inc. Evan Spiegel holds Pixy 2, one of the company’s recent offerings. (Delivered)
Snap’s CEO is particularly excited about Pixy. This is a pocket-sized flying camera and works independently, without controllers or anything complicated to set up. It floats a few feet above you and takes photos and videos, then lands in the palm of your hand after the flight. Everything you capture is downloaded to your Snapchat Memories. Pixy is only available until supplies are available in the US and France.
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