A little less than six weeks after their official announcement, Snap’s Spectacles are now available to purchase in the United States. However, you won’t be able to stroll into your local Best Buy store to pick up a pair of the video-camera glasses.
The product is, instead, only being sold through interactive vending machines, called Snapbots, that are set to pop up all over the country over the course of the next few months. At present, there’s just one in the wild, and it’s located in Venice Beach.
Each Snapbot will be in place for around 24-hours before making its way to a new location — so if you want to be in with a chance of bagging yourself a pair of Spectacles, you’ll need to act fast.
— Spectacles (@Spectacles) November 10, 2016
Fortunately, Snap is making it super easy to find its Minion-like vending machines. Potential customers are able to track the exact location of the Snapbots using a map on the Spectacles website.
“When people approach a Snapbot, it will offer them a preview of Spectacles video footage,” reveals Adweek. Users will be able to press three buttons — colored teal, black and coal — to view a live preview of the glasses on their face.
Once they’ve decided on the color that suits them best, they’ll be able to pop their card into the machine and pay $129 to acquire their pair of Spectacles, which come pre-loaded with battery power, so they can start recording memories right away.
Providing the demand is there, Snap intends to offer a wider release of its Spectacles in 2017, and using these quirky Snapbots is certainly a fun and engaging way to distribute the limited stock it currently has.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.