It’s no secret that Snap aims to be a global leader in augmented reality (AR). This visual technology offers significant promise for all sorts of applications, from shopping to highly skilled engineering roles.
That’s why the company has been slowly rolling out its tools and services to build the AR ecosystem around the world. In 2021, the company announced the Camera Kit platform, designed to let publishers create fantastic AR products for their customers.
Fast forward to 2022, and the early promise of the platform has been vindicated by an opening up of the Camera Kit platform to more beta testers. For those not familiar with Snap, it’s a camera company. But not just any camera company. Snap provides a wide range of visual platforms and products to let businesses, developers, and consumers play around with the ability to capture, share and manipulate visual imagery.
Around 363 million people use Snapchat every day. Over 250 users take advantage of AR, and over 75% of 13 – 34-year-olds across 20 countries use the Snapchat app. These are big numbers, but like many such US tech giants, the company is still struggling to find a profitable pathway. Much of the loss for 2022 can probably be put down to heavy expense on R&D for its AR products, which is where the Camera Kit comes into the equation.
Snap Opens Up The AR Universe
Simply put, the Camera Kit opens up AR beyond the Snap universe by allowing brands like Disney to create their own AR applications and experiences quickly and easily. Many of the mega brands like Meta and Google have their proprietary AR ambitions, but for global brands, it makes sense to work with a private company like Snap, which is not likely to become a competitor.
By giving developers state of the art AR tools, these brands can deliver cool apps on iOS and Android fast. And hopefully profitably. The Camera Kit platform includes functionality to do basic face tracking, body tracking, machine learning, and VFX effects. And it’s not just for teen shopping either.
The company is keen to stress the socially beneficial aspects of AR technology. Microsoft Flip is an education platform that uses the Snap tech stack to integrate AR into its education apps. Or the award-winning inCitu application, which uses Snap’s Camera Kit to embed AR into its phone app.
Neighbor citizens can then visualize the effects of proposed planning applications before they are voted on in town committees. It could be a game changer for the civic design process.
The Community Is King
The Camera Kit beta includes developer coding tools, access to an entire developer community, and a window onto the Snapchat universe to try out applications with real live consumers. There’s also a forum and a Creator Marketplace to help with the creation process.
By offering a full suite of support for AR, Snap hopes to win big as the major player in the space. It’s a gamble, with multi-million dollar research needed, but the stakes are high.
The final part of the puzzle is the Snap Spectacles. The new Spectacles AR offers an immersive worldview that can be used anytime, anywhere. This kind of technology is already being used in aerospace, engineering and significant industrial settings, but the market could explode with the launch of consumer-grade products.
But first of course it will need a lot of content. And, you’ve guessed it, that’s where the Camera Kit comes in again. Like YouTube did in the early days, encouraging developers to produce compelling content will be instrumental in getting traction in the consumer AR market. And that’s where Snap is headed right now, and at full speed.
The Snap Camera Kit is currently in closed beta, but now welcoming developers. Interested parties should apply at the company’s portal.
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