Back in November, Snap Inc. (formerly Snapchat) announced it would be selling camera-enabled sunglasses called Spectacles. The only catch: If you wanted a pair, you had to track down a roving vending machine that popped up in random places around the United States for short periods of time. New York City got a temporary Snap store (it is closed as of today), but long lines and high demand meant you might not be able to get your hands on a pair, even if you waited for hours. (Speaking from experience here.) Starting today, getting your hands on a pair of Spectacles is going to get a whole lot easier; Snap is now selling the glasses via its website. 
 
 Spectacles come in three colors — teal, coral, and the ever-stylish black — and retail for $130. The company is currently only shipping in the United States, so if you’re a Snapchatter abroad, you are out of luck. (Though you could always try eBay. Following the vending machine release last fall, plenty of pairs popped up for resale online if you were willing to pay a significant markup. This will likely happen again now that Specs are more widely available.) The purchase limit is six pairs and glasses should ship in two to four weeks. Pop-up vending machines around the country will also remain a part of Snap’s distribution strategy, though they’ll be taking a short break, a Snap spokesperson confirmed. 
 
 This announcement comes just weeks after Snap’s SEC filing was released in preparation for its initial public offering. According to the filing document, Snap lost $514.6 million last year. Which means Spiegel & Co. only have to sell approximately 4 million pairs of Spectacles to break even this year. ||||| No more waiting in lines: Snap is making Spectacles available to buy online in the U.S. 
 
 
 
 The $130 glasses, which allow wearers to take circular videos and post them to their Snapchat accounts, are now available on Spectacles.com. Before, the glasses were sold through vending machines which popped up in major metro areas around the country, as well as a store in Manhattan. 
 
 Because of the short supply, those lucky enough to snag a pair were able to resell the wearable devices for up to $5,000. CNBC reporters had to wait in line for a total of 18 hours to get ahold of the funky sunglasses. ||||| Snap wants to prove to investors in its upcoming IPO that Spectacles can earn money for its business, not just be a brand stunt. So today, Snap begins selling its video-recording sunglasses Spectacles openly online for $129.99 in the U.S. at Spectacles.com. Previously it only dispensed them from Snapbot vending machines in surprise locations and its NYC pop-up store for the last three months. 
 
 Snap has now closed that pop-up, and tells me “Snapbots will continue to land in surprising locations around the U.S. following a brief “nap” :) “. Buyers should expect to wait two to four weeks for their Spectacles to ship, and households are limited to 6 pairs. People can also now buy $49.99 charging cases and $9.99 charging cords from Snap, which will no longer be sold on Amazon. 
 
 As for why Snap is expanding Spectacles beyond its buzzy limited release strategy, a spokesperson explains: 
 
 “As Evan shared in his interview with the WSJ, when we launched, the idea was : ‘We’re going to take a slow approach to rolling them out,’ says Spiegel. ‘It’s about us figuring out if it fits into people’s lives and seeing how they like it.’ Response has been positive since November’s launch so we’re now happy to be able to make Spectacles more readily available — especially for those in the US who have not been able to make it to a Snapbot.” 
 
 Despite that positive response, Snap admitted in its IPO filing that “The launch of Spectacles . . . has not generated significant revenue for us,” and notes “We expect to experience production and operating costs related to Spectacles that will exceed the related revenue in the near future.” 
 
 There was that one charging case that melted… but in general, users have been quite pleased with the glasses that can record 10 to 30-seconds of video at a time. The circular, view-with-your-phone-in-any-orientation video format Snap pioneered also gives its Snapchat app something that its popular clone Instagram Stories can’t copy. 
 
 Still, Spectacles proved that face-worn computers could be cool if launched by the right brand and kept out of the hands of the geeks at first. Instead of giving developers first access, which created a socially awkward stigma around Google Glass, Snap let its biggest fans chase its Snapbots around the country. 
 
 Snap doesn’t necessarily need to make money directly from Spectacles if it can use them to get more people creating and watching Snaps. But showing it can earn real revenue from hardware could bolster confidence in its public offering. Now the question is what camera this “Camera Company” will release next. ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share The company announced a rebrand along with new sunglasses that can record footage. Video provided by Newsy Newslook 
 
 Promo shot from Snapchat of the new Spectacles video glasses (Photo: Snapchat) 
 
 LOS ANGELES — Communications app Snapchat has a new name, Snap Inc., and is getting into the fashion business. 
 
 Over the weekend, Snapchat, one of the most popular smartphone apps, reaching 100 million visitors daily, announced its first physical product, available later this year. 
 
 Spectacles are $129.99 glasses that can record up to 10 seconds of video, similar to Google Glass. 
 
 Brian Solis, an analyst with the Altimeter Group, says the two products are like "night and day" different. 
 
 Spectacles, which he predicts will be "on everyone's Christmas list," are "a pair of sunglasses with wifi, a camera and the ability to share memories," he says. 
 
 Glass was the ill-fated attempt by the Google to get people wearing $1,500 computerized glasses in 2013 that could surf the Web and record images. Instead, the Glass project got poor reviews and heated response from neighbors, and was shelved by Google. 
 
 Unlike Google, Snap, the new name for the company, points out that a recording light goes on the glasses to alert people that they are being captured, in ten-second bites. The company describes Spectacles as "the best way to make memories ... hands-free, with the simple tap of a button." It has put up a website to announce the product, Spectacles.com, and says the video glasses will be "landing soon." It hasn't supplied ordering information. 
 
 Promo shot of Snapchat Spectacles (Photo: Snapchat) 
 
 Snapchat is dipping its toe beyond the app store, saying it will have just a "limited" number of Spectacles available for purchase. Coupled with the low price, that's certain to make Spectacles a tough-to-get item for the holidays. 
 
 The product transitions Snapchat--which started as a way to share disappearing photos--into a "lifestyle brand," says Solis. 
 
 Spectacles will become, "whether in this iteration or the next iteration, wearable devices to connect to Snapchat and other social networks, a way to share your experiences hands free," says Solis. 
 
 Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel told The Wall Street Journal that taking photos from the vantage point of your eyes made more sense than holding up a smartphone, which is "like a wall in front of your face." 
 
 The new name Snap Inc. represents how the Venice Beach, Calif., company is diversifying into other products. 
 
 The video on the glasses will be captured in a new circular video format, which can be played full-screen on smartphones in the Snapchat app within the Memories section, where users are directed to save their favorite images and Stories, which are collections of videos and photos. They'll also be saved to the device. 
 
 (This is similar to how 360 video looks before it is processed — as two big circular balls of video. The new glasses aren't expected to have as wide a view as 360 video.) 
 
 Snapchat has been the leading proponent of vertical video--smartphone clips produced by holding the phone in the vertical, instead of horizontal position, saying users feel more natural looking at their phones that way. Production companies that make videos shown on Snapchat's Discover channel are told to produce them vertically. 
 
 Now comes another and this time presumably proprietary format, circular video. 
 
 Taylor Nikolai, a heavy Snapchat user who often gives lectures to businesses about how to be more visible on the platform, looks to circular video as the next wave, in light of the new Spectacles video format. 
 
 "When you wear the glasses, you're actually able to see an entire vision from the point of view of the camera ... the content will change because the platform has changed." 
 
 Snapchat storytellers, who have used the tools to add text, drawings and photos into highly viewed "Stories," will have to learn new skills, he adds. 
 
 Promo shot of the Snapchat Spectacles (Photo: Snapchat) 
 
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– Snapchat found itself with a marketing sensation on its hands late last year when it began selling funky-looking sunglasses called Spectacles. The trick is they allow users to record quick videos and photos and send them directly to their Snapchat accounts, but the catch was they were available only through vending machines that would turn up in random locales or through a now-shuttered pop-up store in Manhattan, notes New York. Now, however, parent company Snap is selling them online at Spectacles.com for $129. Just how crazy did demand get? CNBC notes that the glasses were selling for up to $5,000 on secondary markets, adding that its own reporters stood in line for 18 hours to get them. (There's a limit of six per household for the new online purchases.) Snap has said the glasses haven't been big money-makers, but TechCrunch thinks the new move is designed to show prospective IPO investors that they could be. The vending machines will go on hiatus for awhile, but they're expected to resurface eventually.