Social media company Snap (SNAP -2.86%) saw its share price creep higher on Hump Day, thanks mainly to the announcement of a new product. The company will face some stiff competition, however, so the market's bullishness was guarded; the stock only rose by 1.2% on the news. That was good enough to beat the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.38%), though, as that indicator fell by 0.3% on the day.
Seeing the launch of a new product
Toward the end of Tuesday's trading session, Snap announced that it is launching a new line of tech-enhanced eyeglasses called Specs. In the announcement, made at this year's annual Augmented World Expo, the company said the rollout would occur next year. It did not get more specific.
Image source: Getty Images.
It did promise several attractive features of the upcoming augmented reality (AR) products, including artificial intelligence (AI) assistance, social connectivity, and a virtual workstation in case users feel like being productive and not playful.
In its official press release touting the eyewear, Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said, "We believe the time is right for a revolution in computing that naturally integrates our digital experiences with the physical world."
"We couldn't be more excited about the extraordinary progress in artificial intelligence and augmented reality that is enabling new, human-centered computing experiences," he added.
Specs is the continuation of the company's digitally enhanced glasses product line, Spectacles. It introduced the first Spectacles in 2016.
A Meta challenge
There's a big mountain to climb here, though, and that belongs to Meta Platforms (META -0.15%). Nearly two years ago, Snap's social media rival introduced its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, with the product earning generally positive reviews, especially for its feature set. Snap will have to keep on its toes to carve out meaningful share in this still-limited market.
