Making Tech Headlines · Page 3
Snap Adds a Familiar Face to the Face Computer
· New York time
Snap has brought Robert Downey Jr. aboard as a brand ambassador for its Specs augmented reality glasses, giving him the title Chief Customer Experience Officer. Promotional videos feature the actor demonstrating capabilities of the glasses, linking a consumer technology pitch with a performer closely associated with Iron Man. The appeal is easy to understand. Wearable computers must persuade people not only that they work, but that wearing them feels natural. Hollywood recognition can open that conversation faster than a dense chart about interfaces. It cannot finish the conversation. Buyers still need useful features, comfortable hardware and a reason to keep the device on after the demonstration ends. A familiar face can attract attention; it cannot lend every customer the same screen presence. The title also captures a broader technology habit: turning promotion into an executive-sounding appointment. Ordinary customers provide customer experience every day, though their compensation generally consists of a receipt. For Snap, the substantive test is whether the product earns a place in daily life. The promotional advantage is that a face computer now has a face people recognize. The remaining challenge is making everything behind that face worth wearing.
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