Can Go Pro pull it back with their Karma drone and Hero 5 sales?
I have been such a fan of this company for years so to see their stock falling like this is quite worrying. Couple that with the fact that they are laying off 7% of their sales force and discontinuing a large chunk of its cameras and things look bleak.
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| 6 Months | Q4 2015 |
Go Pro Q4 2015 earnings were $436.6 million which sounds good but it is a significant drop of 31% compared to the same quarter last year.
Go Pro will only now produce the Hero 4 Black ($499.99), Hero 4 Silver ($399.99), and Hero 4 Session ($199.99) as well as hopefully releasing the Hero 5 and Karma drone soon to bolster sales and stock value.
One has to think though that perhaps they entered the drone market a little late.
Only 12 months ago, DJI pretty much had that market sewn up with the Phantom range
Today, barely a week goes by where a new, exciting and innovative drone is not announced…it is a large bandwagon and everyone us clambering for space.
Personally, I would like to see the new Go Pro HD Hero 5 with specs that keep up with the rest of the market such as:
- Distortion free footage even at wide angles
- 4K (maybe 8K?) at 60fps
- 1080p @ 240fps
- Better low light performance
- The same size (exactly…for accessories) as the HD Hero 4
- Re-introduction of the 3.5mm audio jack (from the HD Hero 2)
- Possibly even interchangeable lenses and a new range of Go Pro lenses
Not too much to ask is it? After all, third party companies have been ripping the Go Pro apart and manufacturing lenses for a while now and they had the useful 3.5mm audio jack on the HD Hero 2…I guess the smaller they make ’em, the less space for cool stuff.
The Karma drone really has to be something special for it to take the number one spot, or anywhere near it, for drone sales.
There are some mighty fine UAV’s out there (or in development) right now so I hope Go Pro were thinking way outside the box when they were putting this together.
It will need to appeal to the hobbyist/amateur as well as the ever growing professional drone operator market if it is to “take off” (pun intended).
Whatever happens, I wish them well because for years, they have produced innovative and cool little action/sports cameras that opened up the world of film-making to a lot of very cool, adventurous and talented people.
