GoPro To Cut About 15% Of Workforce

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Hey GoPro, remember back at the beginning of the year when you decided to quit selling entry level cameras? How's that working out for you now?

GoPro Inc said on Wednesday it would cut about 15 percent of its workforce as the company restructures its once fast-growing action camera business. GoPro said it will cut about 200 full-time positions, cancel open positions and shut down its entertainment division as part of the restructuring. The company said it expects to incur about $24 million to $33 million in restructuring charges, mostly in its fourth quarter.
 
I would have sold this company long ago, just before I saw slowmo and 4K coming to cellphones.
 
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
 
Well, the complete recall of the Karma drone has to have influenced this a bit. With Chinese knockoffs now easily availbe for less than half the cost they need to step up their game.
 
A bit off topic but requesting input. I am looking for a small video camera under roughly $300. I am working on a model railroad project and would like to video the project as I go along.
Video to cover the build and operations and tutorial with close up of details. I really don't require the aspect of riding a mountain bike stability although that is a cool feature that I could use while bow hunting and hiking.
I was looking at the panosonic HC-V10 HD and Sony HDR-CX 220 HD but would love some input. Thanks
 
mullet said:
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
Click to expand...

1. The average American lives a boring life

2. The ones that don't are constantly sad that their friends take no enjoyment in watching their endless rad videos

3. Its commodity hardware

So their addressable market is small, and they already own an action cam.
 
Saw this coming. I look at their management as being somewhat akin to that of Blackberry - they just don't understand what was good about their devices and fail to bring them to the proper price-points. I'd buy a shock-and-water-proof 1080p action cam for $150-$200, but the Hero 5 has half-a$$ed 4k that brings the price up to $300? Just seems silly, and too bad because they do make good hardware.
 
mullet said:
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
Click to expand...

Uhh....Lots. I mean really, just do some research and there are lots of other cameras that are just as good or better. Sony has some great action cams, they are cheaper, have had really good image stabilization from the start and GoPro didn't, which is actually a big deal on an active action cam, and now have optical image stabilization, they have better image sensors etc etc.

GoPro was the first to have success in this market, others were just getting in at the same time, but they stopped adding lots of new features and tech others were and kept prices high, while others were dropping prices. Then, for most people, 4k and lots of features on the other new cams people don't want or even need. So you have the china knock offs that do 99.9% of what people want them for, some with some pretty darn good image quality for 1/4 the price. You can also be more careless with them, have a $400 GoPro or Sony 4k on your car/helmet etc etc and it gets hit, falls off or other wise damaged? Probably not going to be a good day, but the $49.99 China cam? Oh well, just get another. Which is another point, I can cover almost every angle with china cams on my car, or get one GoPro....I use to be a huge GoPro fan, and most of my friend still use them, however they invested big at the time (8+ cams each), while I only had two, when it came time to get more, I noticed how much better the Sonys were and went that direction, now I have even picked up a few China cams for shots I know I could lose the cam on. Being really honest, image quality IS better on even the older GoPro and Sonys, but not by much, and once uploaded and compressed on YT, you can't tell. Now, swap that to the GoPro or Sony 4k vs the China 1080 and it's different, but for 40-50 bucks, they can't be beat.
 
mullet said:
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
Click to expand...
lack of volume and their selling of attachments have fallen as 3rd parties continue to make cheaper alternatives of passable quality.
 
The Karma fiasco might sink them. As BFI intimates with his comments on the cams, the Karma was also already overpriced and underperforming by the time it was announced. It didn't help that GoPro flubbed the Karma release while trying to beat DJI (Mavic) for holiday consumer drone / toy revenue. While GoPro is trying to recover from the Karma torpedo, DJI has released the P4P and Inspire 2. GoPro needs to quietly back out of the drone market and regroup, or acquire the biggest 3rd party platform, 3DR, that was recently using GoPros, and try to play ball again with a much better effort than the Karma. Note that 3DR recently bailed from the consumer drone market and ditched GoPro for Sony. 3DR has partnered with Sony cams, and they are focusing on their Site Scan software and commercial drone markets.

DJI is the unbeatable juggernaut in consumer, pro, and commercial drone markets right now. Somebody needs to get some serious VC money and acquire a couple of companies like 3DR and Yuneec, and even Parrot, if there is to be any hope of competing with DJI in any market.
 
Last edited:
shame tbh, after trying a some diff brands have a hero4 session on as a camera on my motorcycle. find over all reliability it just works no problem found licence plates readable far more than the others i had both during day and night, but theres way too much compo out there. i simply use mine for secruity in case some asshole hits me off my bike. tbh they should make the small hero 5 much cheaper to make compete.
 
mullet said:
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
Click to expand...
Their hardware is too expensive, and their entry level cameras are beaten by some cheap Chinese alternatives. I don't remember the exact review but even when the hero 3 came out there where cameras that had better IQ and low light handling for half the price of the gopro.

And their market is very small, and it has became very saturated. Besides it's not like the phone market where every db buys the new one as soon as it comes out. I still have a Hero2, and it serves a purpose there is no need to replace it.
 
jkw said:
Note that 3DR recently bailed from the consumer drone market and ditched GoPro for Sony. 3DR has partnered with Sony cams, and they are focusing on their Site Scan software and commercial drone markets.
Click to expand...
That's because sony is the only sensor manufacturer that creates sensors suitable for the pro market. Almost everyone uses them. You can't use a rolling shutter sensor for any serious application.
 
mullet said:
I love my gopro and gimble it makes some smooth steady videos. I don't understand why they are failing. What other camera competes with it?
Click to expand...

I use a mobius camera on my drone to take photos and video. Cost me $70.
 
M76 said:
That's because sony is the only sensor manufacturer that creates sensors suitable for the pro market. Almost everyone uses them. You can't use a rolling shutter sensor for any serious application.
Click to expand...

At this point, I'm sure 3DR regrets ever partnering with GoPro, for this and many other reasons. 3DR should have partnered with Sony from the beginning, but I guess the action cam and drone markets looked different a couple years ago and GoPro was more promising then. The 3DR Solo demise, development of Karma, and pilfering of 3DR employees all benefited nobody but DJI. It's sad too, because I'm a big fan of the Solo (have 3 of them) and will continue to use and support. It's good that Solo development was transitioned to the Solo enthusiast community and 3rd parties. It's a solid platform, and speaks volumes to see that so many former 3DR employees still support it, and it has a great 3rd party software development (Solex).
 
Willsonman said:
Well, the complete recall of the Karma drone has to have influenced this a bit. With Chinese knockoffs now easily availbe for less than half the cost they need to step up their game.
Click to expand...

That can't help, but that is definitely not source of their issues... in fact that recall was sorta no big deal as no one actually bought the Karma drone.

> Struggling video camera maker GoPro announced a recall of the 2,500 Karma drones its has sold since the new product went on sale two weeks ago.

New product launch and they sell just 2500 in first 2 weeks?
 
bexxxxxx said:
That can't help, but that is definitely not source of their issues... in fact that recall was sorta no big deal as no one actually bought the Karma drone.

> Struggling video camera maker GoPro announced a recall of the 2,500 Karma drones its has sold since the new product went on sale two weeks ago.

New product launch and they sell just 2500 in first 2 weeks?
Click to expand...

They would have sold a ton more, just based on the GoPro name and integration with their action cams ... but they botched every aspect of the Karma, from initial design to launch. No way they were going to sell a quad with less features/functionality, for a higher price, to an increasingly disgruntled customer base.
 
ok ok ok, I am sure there are some great cameras but at that price point. The size of go pro and with a gimbal it is just amazing 1080P @ 60fps on a gimbal. Not to mention all of the mounts and addons you can get.

You guys post what you use and some videos I would like to see them.

 
BeavermanA said:
Holy shat, just looked at their stock graph since inception. Ouch.
Click to expand...

Yep, lost about 90% in the past 2 years. GoPro had lost most value long before the Karma fiasco, and the Karma was considered to be their Hail Mary. The Karma failure is suspected to be caused by a faulty battery latch that allows the battery to become disconnected, resulting in power loss and drone falling from sky like a rock. Similar issues have affected many other drone brands/models. Most notably, the Yuneec Typhoon and Parrot Bebop (ver one) have had similar battery retention design problems.
 
Well, lets to the maths...

2500 drones sold at about $1K a pop (optional extras)
2500 8 1000 = $2.5 MILLION

That is not chump change by any means. And when competing against the DJI Mavic at a higher price point they could have made some serious cash. The strong advantage would be that a lot of people already have a compatible camera. It would have been great competition for consumers and drive the tech forward as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top