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Snap’s head of Spectacles leaves the company

Snap’s head of Spectacles leaves the company

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Randall’s resignation is the second change in the product’s leadership

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Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

As Snap’s Spectacles continue to search for mainstream pickup, the company's vice president of hardware, Mark Randall, has made an exit.

In an internal memo obtained by Cheddar, Randall announced that he would be leaving Snap Inc. to start his own company. Randall joined Snap back in 2016 to focus on the company’s leap into hardware with its Spectacles product, a camera-equipped pair of sunglasses. His resignation will bring about another change in leadership when it comes to the company’s hardware initiative.

Spectacles have yet to establish a core, growing audience following the product’s launch in 2016. The days of big lines stretching from Snap's vending machines are long gone. Snap lost $40 million last year after getting stuck with stockpiles of unsold Spectacles inventory.

Evan Spiegel, Snap’s CEO, has repeatedly claimed that Snapchat’s future lies in the evolving nature of augmented reality (AR).

This year, Snap released its second-generation Spectacles and corrected some of the frustrations of the first product. But there's been no indication so far that those are catching on any better with consumers. Cheddar's report notes that Randall's departure isn't related to the release or reception of the latest Spectacles.