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GoPro will be bough by Canon or other camera company
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    It is strong rumors in the industry that GoPro is looking for bigger brother to cover their ass.

    Someone tells that it'll be Canon who has ton of troubles himself.

    Can be also Sony or Samsung who briefly looked at GoPro intellectual properly and some engineers.

    Expect more news on this topic after CES.

  • 29 Replies sorted by
  • EspenBEspenB

    So the Hero7 linup is not selling so well after all?

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    talks are that it sells well only with big discounts, and profits are not enough for GoPro to survive as separate company and keep development.

    Remember that GoPro actually put all LSI development costs on themselves going out from Ambarella chips.

  • EspenBEspenB

    "Over the last three months, we’ve seen a bit of insider selling at GoPro. Director Tyrone Ahmad-Taylor sold just US$23k worth of shares in that time. It’s not great to see insider selling, nor the lack of recent buyers. But the volume sold is so low that it really doesn’t bother us."

    https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/consumer-durables/nasdaq-gpro/gopro/news/need-to-know-gopro-inc-nasdaqgpro-insiders-have-been-selling-shares/

  • EspenBEspenB

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    It's speculative but the actuall LSI developement done for the "GP1" chip doesn't seem that great? Mostly a standard Socionext design?

    Also, the Hero7 SILVER and WHITE this year runs on Qualcomm cell phone processors - which seems to give the same stabilization performance of the Hero6 last year.

    Only this year with the Hero7 Black and hypersmooth it seems that the GP1 chip really is doing something ground breaking. (The Hero6 stabilization wasn't that bad for EIS either, but the Hero7 Black hypersmooth really does work - in daylight that is.

  • EspenBEspenB

    I think that at this point in time they need to develope the GP2 chip for the Hero8. The capabilities of the GP1 chip is exhausted with hypersmooth on the Hero7.

    As we know Gopro tried to sell the Hero6 for 500 USD but had to revert back to 400 USD for the Hero7 Black. With various promotions they actually sell for even less.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    This is that I talk about.

    LSI development cost is rising exponentially, so GP2 will be around 2-3x cost of GP1 development.

    For mobile chips it is not so visible as they are sold in huge amounts. But for cameras LSI we already see huge issues.

  • EspenBEspenB

    Current promotions:

    Fusion is 100 dollar off.

    Hero7 Black is not discounted but rather sold with a "free" charger and extra battery (regular price is like 60 USD).

    Hero7 silver is like 100 USD off.

    I wonder what will happen to the Fusion next year. Another product to kill off or a new model. While the Fusion seems to get the best reviews for image quality the stitching process (two cards) and user experience seems overshadowed by the competition.

    And VR is almost as dead as 3D.

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/12/15/gopro-wants-fusion-to-be-the-next-action-camera.aspx

  • EspenBEspenB

    Everything is fine at GoPro.

    https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/18/18145385/gopro-ceo-nick-woodman-hero-7-black-compeitition-karma-drone

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    So he tells.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Fusion image quality seems very similar to Insta360 one x, but the one x is smaller, costs less, and the phone app is excellent.

  • EspenBEspenB

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    The truth is coming in january I guess.

  • EspenBEspenB

    GoPro CEO has done an impressive number of glossy interviews and media appearances the last week.

    Another one:

    https://mashable.com/article/nick-woodman-gopro-ceo-talks-hero-7-black-drone-fusion-mashtalk/#cwYLGnGKRPqF

    Small talk without any substance.

    Is it a "christmas rally"? Will everything crash again in january like it did the last time?

  • EspenBEspenB

    Equities research analysts expect GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO) to post sales of $375.93 million for the current fiscal quarter, according to Zacks. Three analysts have made estimates for GoPro’s earnings, with estimates ranging from $367.96 million to $390.23 million. GoPro reported sales of $334.80 million during the same quarter last year, which indicates a positive year over year growth rate of 12.3%. The firm is scheduled to issue its next quarterly earnings report on Thursday, February 7th.

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/10/gopros-nick-woodman-is-happy-he-gave-away-a-million-dollars/

    "​​​​GoPro's Nick Woodman is happy that there's nothing to report. After an eventful few years, 2018 was pretty much back to business as usual."

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/01/09/is-gopro-set-for-success-in-2019.aspx

    "Make it or break it? GoPro seems to have entered 2019 on the front foot. Leaner inventory levels, improving financial performance, and a potential catalyst in the form of the Fusion camera should ensure that it keeps improving through the year. However, GoPro has been known to fluff its lines in the past, so the company needs to ensure that it executes its volume-price strategy well, otherwise its future could be in jeopardy."

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gopro-ceo-there-was-no-boogeyman-this-holiday-quarter-2019-01-11

    "For the first time in years, GoPro Inc. came to CES without a cloud of layoffs, product-line exits or holiday-season woes.

    “The boogeyman a lot of people were worried would blow up our fourth quarter didn’t happen,” Chief Executive Nick Woodman told MarketWatch. “No news is good news for GoPro at CES.”

    "Woodman declined to comment on the possibility that the company could get acquired, a topic that’s been up for debate in the investment community with the steep decline in GoPro’s share price. He said that the company’s financial performance over its three reported quarters in 2018 as well as its product strategy “put GoPro in a position to succeed as a stand-alone company.”"

    "“This year we’re selling at price points where we’re designed to return a profitable margin,” he said, and GoPro is aiming for full-year profitability in 2019. Once the company has achieved “stable growth and profitability” with its current three-camera strategy, it will branch into new products, according to Woodman."

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/cameras/gopro-ceo-on-the-strategy-and-new-tech-he-hopes-can-return-his-company-to-its-former-glory/news-story/076b97b4e34201854b8b738e19777f69

    "GoPro has also looked to significantly push down its production cost by about $100 per unit for the top-of-the-range Hero7 Black, which retails in Australia for $599.

    “It doesn’t mean that we make them any lower quality it just means that the engineering teams were challenged with finding a way to make the same level of performance at a lower cost so we can be profitable,” Mr Woodman said."

    They clearly shaved some production cost on a much cheaper exterior, I wonder where the rest was saved in.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @EspenB

    Look at Yi prices, now assume that Yi margin is ala 50%.

    GoPro is just extremely inefficient with huge marketing expenses.

  • jleojleo

    another quality Foxconn product made for $25 marked up 2500% :)

  • EspenBEspenB

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    As we know that the hardware from Hero6 to Hero7 is basically the same, just some larger RAM and a few smaller auxilary chips replaced it beats me how they was able to shave 100 USD (?) of the production cost.

    Exterior of Hero7 Black has a cheaper feel to it no question about that, but can probably only account for a few cents in cost reductions.

    A more automated assembly line?

  • EspenBEspenB

    https://petapixel.com/2019/01/23/is-gopro-failing-as-a-company/

    I agree that the fisheye lens should be removed. They should also put the finger mount directly to the HERO-body like on the Fusion camera. And what the heck happened to the wireless bluetooth microphone option described in several patents? They almost had a wireless mic option in the Remo remote which they killed off without a sign last year.

  • EspenBEspenB

    GoPro 2018 earnings report:

    Sold units: 4.337 million units (approx the same as in 2017; 4.304 million units).

    Comment: Sales numbers are far from the projected 5 million units.

    Revenue is up, partially because of the reduced headcount: 891. This is reduced from 1273 headcount one year ago, aka 30 per cent reduction of workforce in one year.

    US bound production is moved to Mexico i Q2, 2019.

    For 2019 sales are expected to move into more high end cameras. (Black?)

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    US bound production is moved to Mexico i Q2, 2019.

    Real MAGA.

    Revenue is up, partially because of the reduced headcount: 891. This is reduced from 1273 headcount one year ago, aka 30 per cent reduction of workforce in one year.

    I think it is death sentence. As most of this companies do not understand that LSI complexity must double almost each year. And software complexity must be even further ahead.

    MBA managers try to use methods from books made for industrial production, where cuts they made had effect, but not due their smart methods, only due to newer means of production requiring less people. In hardware and software design it is all in reverse. This is why we can witness fall of camera companies all around. They try to use wrong methods. Lot of dump managers around who can only repeat book receipts .

  • EspenBEspenB

    GoPro 2018 earnings call report conference:

    GoPro will expand its hardware and software solutions without going beyond 400 mill operating expenses.

    No info on dates for new product launches this year.

    Revenue percentage is shifting from Americas to Europe and Asia Pacific regions.

    Closing comments from Woodman: "Our brand is in great shape!"

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