Star analyst-turned-venture capitalist Gene Munster sat down with eight millennials this week to get their views on what's hot and what's not.
And right now, Snap's video recording glasses called Spectacles are not cool.
Munster, a VC at Loup Ventures, asked the college students from the University of Minnesota whether it was weird to walk around with Spectacles, and all of them said it was. The millennials said the $130 price tag is too high, with just one in eight suggesting they would be interested in buying a pair if it cost $50.
However, the group said that enough people began to adopt the wearable camera, then they would consider using it too.
Last year, Snapchat rebranded to Snap, but kept the Snapchat name for its disappearing messaging app. Snap calls itself "a camera company" and last year launched Spectacles. It created a lot of hype for the product by only making Spectacles available via vending machines that popped up in random locations. But now the glasses are available online to people in the U.S.
Snap recently went public and investors are trying to figure out whether the company has long-term growth, or whether it is facing stiff competition from the likes of Facebook. For now however, millennials, who are the core users of the platform, still love it.
Four out of eight of the panelists said Snap was their preferred social platform, followed by Instagram (2 out of 8). The millennials said they send about 10-50 snaps per day with the group citing the lenses that allow you to transform your face into a dog for instance, and the fact that fewer parents are on the platform, as key reasons for liking Snapchat. And one panelist said the adverts on Facebook are putting him off the platform.
"The thing that Facebook changed for me, is that it's a lot of ads now and it's a lot of things I don't really care about … I see so much of what other people are doing, it's annoying to me," he said.
Snap's share price has had a rollercoaster ride in the first few days of trade and it faces intense competition from Facebook, which has already copied many of its features. This has left many analysts concerned about the future potential of the company. Despite millennials not taking a liking to Spectacles just yet, Munster concluded that camera hardware could be a way for Snap to beat the competition.
"Snap has the lead and, more importantly, Snap has won the trust of the college demographic. If Snap puts something out, it will likely catch on," Munster wrote in a note on Thursday.
"We believe the camera is at the center of how Snap must advance the platform with new devices and new features to stay ahead of Facebook's improved filters. If Snap slows on its vision as a camera company, Facebook will likely catch them."
