This week, GoPro announced it will discontinue three of its six available action cameras and abandon the entry-level market. This follows the company’s preliminary fourth quarter results revealed last month. GoPro had stated at the time that poor holiday sales would likely result in low quarterly revenue, and that it would layoff 7% of its workforce as a result.
In a conference call this week, GoPro’s founder and CEO Nick Woodman said the company’s recent misfortunes aren’t due to increased competition. ‘Growth slowed in the second half of the year,’ said Woodman, ‘and we recognize the need to develop software solutions that make it easier for our customers to offload, access and edit their GoPro content.’
GoPro is banking on the improved software reversing its sales numbers, but it isn’t clear what other plans may be in place. Woodman said the company will be ‘delivering this new experience in 2016, period.’ In the meantime, though, GoPro anticipates its first quarter sales will be below analysts’ $ 300 million expectation, falling between $ 160 and $ 180 million.
GoPro will stop selling its HERO+ LCD, HERO+ and HERO entry-level cameras in April, making the $ 200 HERO4 Session its least expensive model.
Via: Financial Times
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)