Speaking at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit this afternoon, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel touted how many units of the Snapchat Spectacles the company has sold. Spiegel said the company has sold around 150,000 of the camera glasses during the first year of availability – a number he’s proud of based on first year iPod sales (via CNBC).
Spiegel, speaking to famed biographer Walter Isaacson, explained that sales figures exceeded initial expectations internally. Isaacson, however, pressed harder on the idea that Spectacles weren’t catching on like Snap had hoped.
The Snap CEO, however, argued that the company is proud of its first year with Spectacles and used the iPod for reference. Apple sold around 143,000 units during the first full year of the iPod’s availability, and Spiegel said the goal from the start was to sell at least 100,000 pairs of Spectacles.
“It’s out-sold our expectation. We’ve sold over 150,000 units,” Spiegel said. “Our goal was, if we can sell 100,000, then at least people are open to trying a new way to make memories.”
Spiegel’s comparison to the iPod is certainly a bold one as the iPod has gone on to sell more than 300 million units in its lifetime. The Snap CEO, however, is convinced Spectacles have a viable future and teased that there are “so many things” coming for the glasses.
He also touched on Snap’s decision to go public earlier this year in the interview, a move that some have questioned given the company’s performance:
“I think investors are fearful, and fear is a powerful motivator – they’re fearful we’ll never be profitable, or they’re fearful that competition will kill us or something like that,” Spiegel said.
“But I think those are kind of normal fears for any start-up – and the really successful companies just grow through that. And that’s why we’ve just tried to stay focused on the business this year and execute and deliver results.”
Snap has been expanding its horizons over recent months and is attempting to turn itself into a full-fledged camera company rather than a simple social network. Whether or not that works, however, remains to be seen.
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