About a month ago it was rumored that SnapChat’s creators wanted to re-brand the company as Snap Inc. as part of a move to recreate itself as a camera company. It looks like they’ve now taken the next step and launched their new website – Snap.com – to carry the new branding.
On Sep 23, TechCrunch reported that SnapChat could be looking at rebranding the company, but the site wasn’t up then. Now, not only have they deployed Snap.com, but they’ve also got Spectacles.com for their new camera-embedded glasses that we reported around the same time. And a Wikipedia page for the newly rebranded company.
Also Read: Snapchat Launches $129 “Spectacles”, Sunglasses that Record Video
We’ve now confirmed that SnapChat is now officially known as Snap Inc. The confirmation comes in the form of the “© 2016 Snap Inc.” on the footer of the Snap.com website, and a Wikipedia page that confirms the incorporation date as September 24, 2016. A few websites seem to have caught this, but it doesn’t look like it’s been widely reported yet.
The app itself – their original product, SnapChat – is not likely to undergo a name change. It’s a massive undertaking if that were the case, and ahead of Snap Inc.’s planned IPO in March 2017, I don’t think they would want to disrupt their core brand in such a big way.
But they seem to have run into some legal problems as a result of the rebranding effort. Another social company in the U.S. called Snap Interactive has filed a trademark infringement suit against Snap Inc.
The rebranding, as mentioned, is part of their attempt to position themselves as a camera company, and it says so right on the website. Their first camera-based products will be the sunglasses with built-in video recording, as showcased in the article link above, and the company is keen to get into this space in future.
The move to becoming a camera company might seem like a drastic shift from social media, but with the popularity of video content on the rise, it’s clear that the company wants to get into the hardware side of things as well. But it’s still early days, and they’ve only got one product that’s yet to be launched – the sunglasses. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what else founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy have up their sleeves next.
In other news, about a month ago, Snap Inc. issued a press release announcing the Story Playlist. Essentially taken from Auto Advance, it allows Snapchatters to see specific stories around what their friends and family have been up to. In many ways it’s similar to what Facebook has done with the Moments app.
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