Hot Wheels has unveiled a new GoPro mount that allows users to get a first-person-view of their toy as it races along its track. The mount looks like a car, but with a slot in which the GoPro action camera is placed, enabling the camera to record an FPV of the "trip." The only catch? You need GoPro's smallest cube-shaped camera to use it.
It's no secret that GoPro has been struggling, but the company saw a glimmer of hope during its first quarter of the year. The company announced a very modest unit growth of 3-percent, an increase that unfortunately wasn't joined by revenue growth. The company saw a fairly substantial drop in revenue compared to its first quarter in 2017.
GoPro has a trade-in program that it calls "Trade-Up" for getting discounts on its current products. Previously, you had to trade-in a previous-generation GoPro camera to get the discount on a newer product, but the company announced changes today that open the program to any digital camera. Trade-up is available to anyone in the US, with discounts reaching up to $100 depending on model.
It's no secret that GoPro continues to struggle despite multiple business restructuring efforts, new products including a drone, and more. Though the company has managed to improve its fortunes to a degree, GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman has previously said that he's open to a potential deal, though none have been penned. That's good news for Chinese company Xiaomi, which reportedly is interested in buying GoPro.
Well, that didn't take long: less than a day after a low-cost GoPRO HERO leaked out, the company has now confirmed its existence. As the rumor suggested, this will be an entry-level camera aimed at folks who want something a little more robust than the camera on their smartphone. Obviously, the HERO line has always been fairly affordable - especially the HERO5 at $299 - but with this new entry-level HERO, GoPro is really looking to remove price as a barrier to entry for some people.
Once hailed as the king of action cameras, GoPro quickly found itself on the opposite end of the market, struggling against the innumerable clones trying to replicate its magic. After a disastrous Karma drone launch, the biggest question has always been what’s next for the former king. Thanks to some probably eager retailers, we know now that it would be a new GoPro Hero, no number, that seems to aimed at being a Hero in the mass market segment.
Times are tough for action camera-maker GoPro, and the company is hoping a tech licensing deal will open new avenues in smart home systems, autonomous cars, and more. A new agreement has been linked with Jabil, a manufacturing firm that offers computational camera modules, head-up displays, lenses, and other optics tech to a wide range of companies.
Action cameras are inherently prone to damage -- after all, they're designed to ride on drones, attach to mountain bikes, record under water, and more. GoPro remains the best known action camera maker in the US, and many customers have put its various models through the paces. For those who pushed things just a little too far, the company has introduced a new service plan that replaces those broken cameras.
Last year, action camera maker GoPro introduced a 360-degree 5.2K camera called Fusion, a model that resembles the company's HERO models but with notably different functionality. The GoPro Fusion has launched in the months since its introduction, enjoying fairly solid user ratings and reviews while helping GoPro edge away from its business troubles. Thanks to a new app update, Fusion just got a little more appealing.
GoPro is shopping for a potential buyer, it's reported, having announced dire holiday sales and the unexpected axing of its Karma drone line. The action camera company said today that demand over the 2017 holiday period proved less impressive than GoPro had expected, and that it would be forced to shed staff as a result.
GoPro delivered preliminary results for its fourth quarter ending December 31, 2017 today, and while there isn't much in the way of detailed financials, this report does still provide something of a bombshell announcement. GoPro revealed that it will be exiting the drone business, which is sour news for those who are fans of its Karma drone. This is particularly surprising because, as GoPro itself points out, the Karma managed to reach "the #2 market position in its price band in 2017."
Someone decided to sacrifice a GoPro camera to the lava gods, but the camera survived anyway. Yes, we're talking about literal lava here, and yes the GoPro literally caught on fire. Where others would have failed, though, the GoPro persisted, not only surviving the encounter, but continuing to record the entire time. No one expected that outcome, but it's the best we could have hoped for.