Snap bets on 金物類／武器類 as Facebook 脅し ぼんやり現れるs
By Heather Somerville
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Snap Inc takes to the road in London on Monday to 促進する its 初期の public 申し込む／申し出ing with a daring proposition: that it can build hot-selling 金物類／武器類 gadgets and 広告-friendly ソフトウェア features 急速な／放蕩な enough to stay one step ahead of Facebook.
No longer just a purveyor of a smartphone app for disappearing messages, Snap has 雇うd hundreds of 金物類／武器類 engineers, built a 隠しだてする 製品 開発 lab and scoured the landscape for 取得／買収s as it 追求するs its newly 明言する／公表するd ambition to be "a camera company."
These 成果／努力s, which are 目的（とする）d at developing 金物類／武器類 and いわゆる augmented reality 科学（工学）技術s, are central to the 戦略 of a company that is 捜し出すing a valuation of up to $22 billion in its 早期に March IPO にもかかわらず 激しい losses and the specter of stiff 競争 for advertising dollars with a far-larger Facebook. (Graphic:http://tmsnrt.rs/2kXZxA7)
It is a big 賭事 and the 半端物s against Snap are long.
There is little precedent for a company with its roots in ソフトウェア and social 網状組織ing 後継するing in the 悪名高くも difficult 消費者 金物類／武器類 商売／仕事. Few U.S. 会社／堅いs aside from Apple have made big 利益（をあげる）s on 金物類／武器類, and camera and wearable gadget 製造者s have much lower valuations than Snap is 捜し出すing. Once-hot camera start-up GoPro is a cautionary tale: its 在庫／株 sits 61 パーセント below its 2014 IPO price.
More 概して, creating new 製品s and features that have 集まり-market 控訴，上告 and cannot be readily mimicked is a 抱擁する challenge, 分析家s say.
"It´s worrisome," said Paul Meeks, 長，指導者 投資 officer at Sloy, Dahl & Holst, which manages more than $1 billion in 資産s. "Snapchat is going to have to continue to be really innovative and 独特の. It´s going to be very 堅い to trump Facebook."
Snap 拒絶する／低下するd to comment for this story.
Snap first signaled its new 焦点（を合わせる） with the September 明らかにする／漏らす of Spectacles, funky sunglasse s with an embedded ビデオ camera for 地位，任命するing to the Snapchat app. The company spent $184 million on 研究 and 開発 last year, nearly half its 歳入.
Augmented reality, which 言及するs to computer-生成するd images overlaid on real surroundings and 見解（をとる）d through a smartphone or special glasses, is a big part of the 計画（する）. Snap's "レンズs" image-overlay feature has been a 攻撃する，衝突する, and gives Snap an advertising 判型 that's unique, at least for now.
"If you're going to make the bet longer-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 on Snap, you are betting they are going to come up with innovative 製品s that Facebook can't copy," said Nabil Elsheshai, 上級の 公正，普通株主権 分析家 at Thrivent 財政上の, who is considering whether to recommend that his 会社／堅い buy Snap's IPO.
Facebook-owned Instagram last year rolled out a feature called Stories, modeled after Snapchat's feature by the same 指名する. Snapchat had about 100 million より小数の downloads than Instagram in 2016, によれば market 研究 会社／堅い App Annie.
NEW GADGETS
Snap had 158 million daily active 使用者s in the fourth ４半期/4分の1, up just 3 パーセント from the previous ４半期/4分の1, compared to 14 パーセント growth during the same period in 2015, によれば Snap's IPO とじ込み／提出するing. New gadgets that 申し込む／申し出 more ways to interact with Snapchat could help attract new 使用者s and get 存在するing 使用者s to spend more time on the app.
"最終的に, that's what advertisers are going to be looking at," said Douglas Melsheimer, managing director at 投資 bank and 協議するing 会社／堅い Bulger Partners. Snap, along with Facebook and host of online 競争相手s 範囲ing from Google to BuzzFeed, is 出資するing on the 転換 of ビデオ advertising dollars from 伝統的な television to the internet.
Snap's IPO とじ込み／提出するing reads "as if all the hard things in 前線 of them that they have to do are already done," said Rett Wallace, cofounder and 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある at Triton 研究. But, he said, that's not the 事例／患者. "How will they 停止する against all the guys you don't want to be fighting against in the world - Facebook, Google and Apple?"
金物類／武器類 is part of the answer. Snap has 新採用するd 金物類／武器類 専門家s from Apple, Alphabet Inc's Google, Nest and Motorola, によれば an 分析 of LinkedIn profiles. One former 従業員 述べるd ample 資源s and support from 管理／経営 for the 手渡す-選ぶd 金物類／武器類 teams.
Last spring, Snap 始める，決める out to 雇う up to 300 金物類／武器類, augmented reality and 事実上の reality specialists in a 選び出す／独身 month, によれば another former 従業員. It also 始める，決める up Snap Labs, a group 献身的な to working on 隠しだてする 事業／計画（する）s. Its members have reviewed 取得／買収 的s in areas 含むing wearable cameras, facial 承認 and 3D scanning 科学（工学）技術, によれば people の近くに to the discussions.
Spectacles itself （機の）カム from Snap's 取得／買収 of startup Vergence Labs in 2014. The sunglasses surprised even Snap's earliest 投資家s, who say 金物類／武器類 was not in Snap's 初期の pitch to them.
"It was a disappearing messaging 製品, and that's it," said Jeremy Liew, a partner with Lightspeed 投機・賭ける Partners, who made the 初期の 投機・賭ける 投資 into Snap. Like most Snap 支援者s he 称讃するd the Spectacles rollout.
Snap has acquired at least 10 startups since 2014 によれば 会社／堅いs 跡をつけるing such 取引，協定s, and M&A 取引，協定 製造者s say Snap is one of the most active shoppers they have heard from.
"AMAZON PASS"
Snap's R&D 投資 as a 百分率 of 歳入 is far higher than what Facebook or Twitter were spending before they went public. One result of that 投資 has been a wave of 特許 filings - about 46 total, によれば 研究 会社／堅い CB Insights.
They 含む eyewear 特許s for Spectacles, 同様に as 特許s for photo and ビデオ-逮捕（する） 装置s, and 反対する and facial 承認, which is 重要な to developing augmented reality 科学（工学）技術.
One former 従業員 said Snap is working to 人物／姿／数字 out ways to turn the 倉庫／問屋 of data it collects from Memories, a feature for 使用者s to save photos on Snap's server, into augmented reality or facial 承認 使用／適用s.
Spectacles "opens the doors for augmented reality," Elsheshai said. "That's a different direction for the company than just 追加するing more social マスコミ 能力s."
The quirky 人気 of Spectacles その上の endears 使用者s to Snapchat, he said, but 疑問d that such niche 製品s can 推進する the 使用者 growth Snap needs in the long 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語.
The greatest 妨害 to Snap's 革新 成果／努力s, however, may be its hefty losses: the company lost $515 million last year on $404 million in sales. 歳入 from Spectacles. was "not 構成要素," によれば Snap's IPO とじ込み／提出するing.
Snap, like アマゾン.com, is 推定する／予想するing public 投資家s to 許す the company to lose money for years on the 約束 that more 投資 in 革新 will 支払う／賃金 off later.
"They are going to have to get the アマゾン pass - 投資家s that don't care in the short run," Elsheshai said.
(報告（する）／憶測ing by Heather Somerville; 付加 報告（する）／憶測ing by Julia Love; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Tomasz Janowski)
