What’s wrong with GoPro?

[gringorio]

Interesting info on GoPro's profitability: GoPro Reported a 20% Loss in Q3 - Karma is the Last Hope - WeTalkUAV

The few comments are interesting as well.

 

[RC Madman]

GoPro`s drone market was taken by DJI Mavic Pro

Gopros drone market never existed. They tried to make a run at it and DJI put a foot on their neck and put some weight on it.

Gopro also can sell $500 action cams anymore as there are good options at much lower price points.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

GoPro had a chance to work with DJI when DJI was doing the Zenmuse gimbals and folloing GoPro's model changes... but GoPro thought they could just jump in.... they are taking some hard knocks and finding out the learning curve is pretty steep to put out a product this complicated.

 

[jdgilbert]

My opinion, based upon the presentation given by Nick Woodman during their latest product launch, is that the business plan of their company is not conducive to making a profit. Nick Woodman reminds me of the many DotCom entrepreneurs who were brilliant technically but had poor business instincts. In his case he had a great idea to invent a camera for active people that was easy to use, waterproof, etc. but in the process he has too much emotional involvement in the hardware side of their business.

What makes these products really work is not the hardware but the software and the drone business is a great example: everyone is copying DJI's physical designs, using much the same hardware, external shape and size, internal components, etc. but no one has come close to the complete package of a smooth, feature-rich flying and photography/videography experience. GoPro is essentially selling their creative software, which makes the footage usable for the average person, for the price of a camera. In their case the cameras are so significantly higher in cost than the competition that you're paying $300-400 for software versus buying a cheaper action cam and using some other third-party software to edit footage. They are counting on users valuing the advanced user interface of their hardware, ease of use of software and online cloud services as a total package.

If they were to sell the software/cloud services as a standalone product for a reasonable price it could still be "bundled" with their action cams but it would also open up a new revenue stream for non-GoPro owners such as myself.

 

[Goldsaum82]

I was thinking about this on my drive to work yesterday. It's actually kind of sad to see their company slowly sinking in to bankruptcy. They stepped out on a limb when they entered the drone game, but as we've seen, it's been a catastrophic failure. I can't help but wonder how much longer they'll be around. As for DJI, they couldn't be in a better spot.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

I was thinking about this on my drive to work yesterday. It's actually kind of sad to see their company slowly sinking in to bankruptcy. They stepped out on a limb when they entered the drone game, but as we've seen, it's been a catastrophic failure. I can't help but wonder how much longer they'll be around. As for DJI, they couldn't be in a better spot.

Sad indeed... however in looking into their GoPro camera sales it has been slumping for the last year or so... that does not help, then the bad take off of the Karma (pun there?!) they will be digging deep to get out of this hole.... stock is down 30% in one month.... ouch...