After months of speculation, Snapchat formally announced its smart glasses, Spectacles, back in September. Since then, the company has been relatively mum on when the $130 hardware would be available to the public. “Soon,” Snapchat said to anybody who asked. “Soon.” Well, turns out “soon” meant today. This morning, the company started selling the glasses from a bright-yellow vending machine.
The machine, called a Snapbot, looks something like a giant Minion and will be in its given location for only 24 hours; it landed this morning near Snapchat’s California headquarters, in Venice. There’s a map on the Spectacles website with the Snapbot’s location, but it’s fairly vague. If you’re going to track down a pair today, you’ll need a decent working knowledge of the area (or, hint-hint, a program with a 3-D map of buildings in the area). It’s unclear how many pairs of glasses are available in the machine or how quickly they’ll sell out. Buyers will be able to “try on” the glasses at the machine before buying them, using a Snap filter which puts a digital version of the glasses over the buyer’s face, the Verge reports.
If you want a pair, Snap Inc. has said the Snapbots are going to be the only way to get ahold of Spectacles. Here’s hoping they show up in New York City soon. Otherwise, would anybody in the Venice area mind picking me up a pair? Preferably in black. I’ll Venmo you!
