GoPro Drones: 2016

Action camera maker launches delayed drone as it seeks new markets

GoPro, whose leadership in action cameras has been challenged by lower-cost rivals, unveiled its long-awaited drone on Monday, as it tries to grab share in a new growth market.

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Its Karma drone focuses on portability and ease of use, as GoPro tries to catch up with DJI, the Chinese start-up whose Phantom range pioneered the flying camera market in recent years. GoPro’s drone, which requires one of its Hero cameras to capture aerial footage, folds into a backpack and offers a removable stabiliser that works with its standard mounts and accessories.

“People are going to be surprised at how easy Karma is to fly,” said Nick Woodman, GoPro’s founder and chief executive, at a press event held in the mountains around Lake Tahoe in northern California. Calling it the “ultimate” GoPro camera, he touted its “Hollywood calibre stabilisation in a backpack you can wear in almost any activity”.

At the same event, GoPro unveiled its new Hero 5 camera, cutting the price of its flagship device by $50 to $399 and adding voice control, a waterproof housing and improved editing software.

GoPro has had a tough year on Wall Street, with its shares losing half their value between January and May, after it axed half of its camera line-up and swung to a loss. “A new product cycle can change the ‘zero’ back to a ‘hero’,” analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a research note predicting a “comeback” in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Investors have been eagerly awaiting the launch of GoPro’s first significant new product line in years, as it tries to broaden its cameras’ appeal and stave off low-cost competition. Analysts at Futuresource Consulting predict that the global video drone market will expand from $1.4bn in 2015 to $3.2bn by 2020.

The pricing of GoPro’s drone is competitive at $799, excluding a compatible camera. Bundles including its new cameras cost $999-$1,099. DJI’s flagship Phantom 4, which offers automatic tracking and obstacle-avoidance technology, but is less portable, costs around $1,200 including its built-in camera. DJI is also holding a product launch in the next few weeks, with rumours pointing to a cheaper folding drone that could compete more closely with Karma.

Delays to Karma’s launch may have already cost GoPro any first-mover advantage. First announced in a teaser video last December, Karma had initially been earmarked for a pre-summer debut, but was delayed in May. Since then, Chinese consumer electronics maker Xiaomi unveiled its first drone costing under $500, while Yi Technology, which already makes a popular range of low-cost rivals to GoPro’s action cameras, is also planning to launch a drone.

Alongside the new hardware, Mr Woodman emphasised new software tools for editing and sharing the video its cameras capture more quickly and simply. “This is something we’ve been working towards for 14 years and we are finally here,” he said, acknowledging the shortcomings in its apps to date.

Improving its software is crucial for GoPro’s cameras to compete with smartphones, which are becoming more rugged and waterproof and offer a huge range of apps for processing and distribution.

GoPro’s new action cameras also offer automatic uploading of footage to a new subscription-based cloud storage service, GoPro Plus. Alongside the Hero 5, a higher-resolution version of its compact, cube-shaped Session was released costing $299, which is $100 more expensive than the current version.

GoPro shares initially rose by as much as 8 per cent on Monday as the products were unveiled, before settling around 5 per cent higher at $15.72. Even after a rally over the summer months, the stock is still down by more than 10 per cent for the year and trades at less than half 2014’s initial public offering price.

The Silicon Valley-based company warned earlier this year that the Hero 5 and Karma launches would depress its gross profit margin to around 40 per cent in the second half of the year, at the same time as operating costs have increased due to the costs of developing the new products.

Some analysts have also become concerned over GoPro’s ability to manage supply and demand, after it was forced to cut the price of its original Session by half last year to shift unsold inventory. Karma will go on sale on October 23, with the other cameras arriving at the beginning of the month. GoPro Plus will cost $4.99 a month and launches outside the US next year.

Action camera kit company GoPro has revealed the results of its efforts to develop an all-in-one drone, the Karma, which will be available from $799 starting October 23.

The aerial drone, whose fold-up wings make it compact enough to fit inside a backpack carry case, is designed to work with GoPro's range of Hero 5 and Hero 4 cameras.

It comes with a detachable Karma Grip stabilizer, to be made available for $299 separately, which can double up as a hand-held camera mount.

Also included is a clamshell controller which totes a built-in display as well as joysticks and buttons.

With the Hero 5 Black camera, the Karma is to retail for $1,099. A package with the smaller Hero 5 Session is priced up at $999; without any camera, the drone is marked at $799.

The Hero 5 Black ($399) and Hero 5 Session ($299) were announced during the same presentation, as were a GoPro Plus cloud storage subscription ($4.99 per month), a Quik Key micro-USB card reader for media sharing and editing, and the voice controlled remote Remo.

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