At the Snap Partner Summit on Thursday, the maker of the popular Snapchat app unveiled a slew of updates that showcase the platform’s ambitions in entertainment, gaming, marketing and shopping. Plus some interesting builds on Snap’s years of development in augmented reality.
In another announcement, the company unveiled Snap Minis, i.e. bite-size versions of apps that work inside Snapchat. A key characteristic of Minis is that they encourage social experiences, or usage between friends. With the technology, which was built off Snap’s game development work, the interaction matters. Snap also emphasizes that the feature gives developers fast-tracked distribution across a network of hundreds of millions of existing daily Snapchatters.
Louis Vuitton is working on an upcoming new feature that lets fans scan the LV logo and see products. Courtesy image Scan updates also cover voice capabilities, thanks to a partnership with SoundHound. Now verbal keywords can trigger AR experiences, just like images. With a voice command, the system can search any Face or World Lens in Snap’s platform. A user could say, “Hey, Snapchat — make my hair pink,” conjure a moon environment or even turn a literal selfie into a potato selfie.
The extensibility of the camera matters, perhaps for users, but certainly for Snap itself, enabling executives to make a case to drive more partners into the fold.