One of the products that Snapchat owner Snap Inc. is developing as “a modern-day camera company” is a drone, reports the New York Times today.
Sources for this bold claim are “three people briefed on the project who asked to remain anonymous because the details are confidential.”
The drone would help users take videos and photographs from overhead, then share that visual data with Snap, and presumably, other users of the service.
Snap is scheduled to go public later this week in a long-anticipated IPO.
From the New York Times:
It is unclear when or if Snap’s drone would become available to consumers. Like many technology companies, Snap often works on experiments, many of which are killed or repurposed into other projects. A Snap spokeswoman declined to comment.
The work on a drone builds on Snap’s unveiling last year of Spectacles, sunglasses that record short video clips. The company also changed its name to Snap from Snapchat to reflect that it intended to branch out into myriad products.
And from related reporting by Reuters:
Many investors are eager to know Snap Inc's future course of action, as concerns over its growth prospects, valuation and corporate governance still remain.
In a highly anticipated run up to its IPO, Snap Inc on Wednesday said it expects investors buying up to a quarter of the shares in its $3.2 billion public offering this week to agree not to sell them for a year. It is targeting a valuation of between $19.5 billion and $22.3 billion from its New York Stock Exchange listing.
