Snapchat Might Develop its Own Augmented Reality Device

Snapchat is possibly moving to develop its own augmented reality hardware fueled by its recent decision to join the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) Techcrunch reported.

Citing the Financial Times, the website said that the "Bluetooth Special Interest Group industry association maintains the Bluetooth wireless standard, and membership is a necessary prerequisite for companies that want to employ Bluetooth in any hardware devices."

Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram's challenger,  "is an adopter in the SIG, which is a free tier that provides member companies with a license to build Bluetooth-enabled products, and to work with other Bluetooth SIG makers on collaborative efforts," Techcrunch said.

The Financial Times said if a company joins the SIG, generally speaking they probably intend to build a wireless device.

Facebook has dabbled in hardware previously last year where it offered free Bluetooth beacons to business owners as part of a wireless, location-based ambient advertising push, but the idea has not yet gained traction.

The Financial Times speculates that Snapchat's recent acquisition of augmented reality headset startup Vergence Lab, and recent hires in computer vision all suggest that the social media company is going beyond just a blue tooth device.

There have been rumors earlier this year that Snapchat might already have begun developing a pair of smart glasses, potentially similar to Google Glass.

Techcrunch opines that Snapchat has good reason to be interested in AR as a category:" its smartphone app is scene by many as one of the most successful existing examples of consumer AR, mainly through the use of their image filters, which can be applied to live video captured by a user's device camera."