Snapchat Joins Bluetooth SIG, Fueling Hardware Speculation
Snapchat has joined the Bluetooth SIG, further fueling speculation that the company is working on hardware. Membership in the SIG is required for companies that want to use Bluetooth in their products. Snapchat is listed as an “adopter,” a free tier that allows member companies to build Bluetooth-enabled products and collaborate with other SIG makers.
As the Financial Times notes, companies typically join the SIG only if they intend to launch a wireless device. While other software-focused companies are SIG members, such as Facebook, Facebook has previously dabbled in hardware, including offering free Bluetooth beacons to business owners as part of a wireless, location-based ambient advertising push.
Snapchat’s Bluetooth-enabled hardware plans might be more ambitious. The Financial Times report highlights that Snapchat has recently demonstrated a strong interest in augmented reality hardware, including the acquisition of AR headset startup Vergence Lab, recent hires, and a number of acquisitions in computer vision and AR software.
Earlier this year, a report suggested that Snapchat might be developing a pair of smart glasses, potentially similar to Google Glass. Snapchat has good reason to be interested in AR; its smartphone app is widely seen as one of the most successful examples of consumer AR, mainly through the use of image filters that can be applied to live video captured by a user’s device camera.
