GoPro has announced the development of a new lineup of professional ‘specialized’ cameras to be released later this year and in 2023. The announcement was made during the Earnings Call by the company’s CEO, Nick Woodman. Read Nick’s statements below.
Back on the horse
GoPro is back on the horse again. After a solid year in spite of COVID, GoPro feels it has the privilege of calculating and improving its route in order to conquer more professional (‘specialized’) markets, with a new lineup of cameras. GoPro CEO Nick Woodman was very pleased during the Earnings Call and explained his ambition to expand the product offering of the company and the logic behind this new strategy. Woodman has stated that the HERO10 BLACK was the best-selling camera in the U.S. camcorder market in 2021.
Winning an Emmy
Woodman has mentioned that in Q122, GoPro was honored with its second Emmy Award in the category of “Camera Sensor and Software Stabilization” in recognition of its material impact on television technology: “In the past week, GoPro was honored by the National Academy of Television Art and Scientists with a second Emmy Award. This time, recognizing our industry-leading HyperSmooth video stabilization” he explained.
Two more cameras will be introduced this year
Furthermore, Woodman said that in 2022 and beyond, GoPro plans to expand its cameras, by enhancing the product ecosystem and creating derivatives cameras in order to diversify GoPro offerings. As stated by Woodman: “At the end of 2022, we plan to increase our hardware offering from two products types that we have today (HERO and Max), to four distinct camera products. And we will expand that further at the end of 2023. This is an addition of the extensive roadmap we plan for software (cloud and desktop applications)”.
At the end of 2022, we plan to increase our hardware offering from two products types that we have today (HERO and Max), to four distinct camera products. And we will expand that further at the end of 2023.
GoPro CEO Nick Woodman
From hobbyists to professionals
Moreover, Woodman elaborated regarding the company’s new strategy. According to the Earnings Call, GoPro is now ready to serve the professionals as well, and not just the hobbyists. What does it mean “serving professional needs”? GoPro CEO talked about implementing more specialized cameras. Woodman firmly indicated about adding more ‘specialized’ camera models to the market, in order to satisfy the professional segment.
Those cameras will do a lot more than the HERO camera.
GoPro CEO Nick Woodman
New ‘Specialized cameras’
According to Woodman, those camera models are narrower in focus but can do much better jobs in some tasks, for those specialized users. “Those cameras will do a lot more than the HERO camera” he stated. Furthermore, Woodman emphasized that these new products will be based on existing GoPro technologies rather than developing them from scratch. Hence, the R&D will be facilitated in terms of cost and speed, which is a significant advantage.
Focus on premium solutions
Woodman explained that the hard focus will be more on premium solutions for an entirely new group of users. Those users might have new needs: From a Swiss army knife to a more specialized knife. “We need to do things that our users have been asking for years that we just can’t get done with the existing line of HERO cameras, due to its physics constrained” Woodman elaborated, and added: “But if we’ll make it entirely new camera (based on HERO’s technologies), we can offer much more professional product, that this market segment will want to pay even more for these types of solutions. Moreover, we are not expecting these specialized cameras to sell more than the HERO”.
We need to do things that our users have been asking for years that we just can’t get done with the existing line of HERO cameras, due to its physics constrained.
GoPro CEO Nick Woodman
Summary
This news is pretty exciting for GoPro, and for our industry as well. It seems that the company has huge potential to grow and make a significant impact even in the high-end market that appreciates high-end imagery. The image quality that the HERO10 outputs is phenomenal taking into consideration its size and price. For instance, check out the video below that shows the current capabilities of GoPro cameras:
However, GoPro can do so much more (global shutter, larger sensor, better codecs, etc) in order to satisfy videographers, cinematographers, and professional content creators. Let’s see what will be cooked by GoPro later on this year.
Product List
Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers.
- GoPro HERO10 BLACK
- GoPro HERO9 BLACK
- GoPro HERO8 BLACK
- GoPro MAX 360 Action Camera
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