GoPro is going downward: Why it was never just about the camera

GoPro continues to go through a  rough patch . The company’s stock has nosedived and the sales have dropped by 40 percent to $240.5 million from $400 million in 2015. While CEO Nick Woodman can choose to blame the Hero 5 and Karma drone to some extent, there’s a bigger picture that has led to the downfall – inability to keep evolving. GoPro is a popular durable tiny camera lineup. In third quarter 2014, the pioneer in tiny action cameras enjoyed over 70 percent of market share. During the later 2015-early 2016 period, the company was ready to fire a substantial number of employees . This makes it hard to believe that it was just in Q3 2014 that it enjoyed a 72.5 percent market share in the point-of-view camcorder market in the US while the global sales dominated the market, measured at a sizeable 56.7 percent of worldwide action camera sales. [caption id=“attachment_208403” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The GoPro Hero 3 attached on the underside of the DJI Phantom remote controlled quadro-copter.[/caption] It begun losing the greener patches last year. The reason was simple – GoPro didn’t have a flagship product at all. Last year, we saw the Hero + LCD priced at $300 and the Hero 4 Session priced at $400, which came with slightly revamped features over their respective predecessors. Though by the holiday season it decided the cut down the Hero 4’s pricing by half, it seemed to have been too late. Basically, all through last year, the company couldn’t effectively get a worthy product out. Meanwhile, the talks had shifted towards VR, drones and so on. GoPro launched the Hero5 and Karma after a few delays, but these too didn’t really help it make a comeback. Karma got mixed reviews, and needless to say, there is enough competition from players like DJI already. The Hero5 Black and Hero5 Session, were accompanied by software to share and edit footage shot on its cameras that many users may have wanted for years. We did see the 360-video camera dubbed Omni, but it cost $5000, which is enough to keep it away from the reach of an average user. However, for a company like GoPro, it wasn’t just about cameras. The product essentially was a durable tiny camera, which targeted lifestyle market, especially those with an adventurous streak within them. As a company, it had also begun appealing to general masses, especially with the host of mounts that made it even more interesting. The company didn’t ramp up to reach out the masses, and in no time there were other players, filing in the gap by emulating GoPro. And, then there is the smartphone that can pretty much play every role from a stereo speaker to camera. Now, a high-end smartphones is waterproof and comes with a some great cameras features including built-in image stabilisation. GoPro is for enthusiasts and may have even encourage people to go out and get adventurous, and record it all. But, that may not be enough to take on the market. And, this only shows us the vulnerabilities of the startup space, and how production issues, delays, and the lack of a great flagship product could quickly lead to a company’s undoing. For GoPro, it isn’t any different. Companies like Twitter have immense following, but the core still remains - the inability to grow with time and ensure the investors aren’t worrying.