Following a disappointing quarter, GoPro has also postponed the release of its new drone, The Karma, until the winter holidays.
GoPro released its first quarter earnings today, which, coming off an already discouraging 2015 fiscal year, were fairly unpromising.
The company saw its revenue drop by 49.5 percent year over year and generated a $121 million USD loss. At this time last year, the company reported a $22 million USD profit. The Karma was initially supposed to launch in the first half of 2016.
Drones have been identified as a point of opportunity for the camera company, which makes this announcement even more disappointing. In spite of the negatives, senior management at GoPro is trying to remain positive.
“Consumer demand for GoPro remains solid,” Nicholas Woodman, GoPro Founder and CEO said in a statement sent to MobileSyrup.
“Unit sell-thru was close to first quarter 2015 levels, a quarter which benefited from the launch of Hero4. Revenue exceeded our guide and, importantly, unit sell-thru rates were approximately 50% higher than sell-in which drove global inventory levels down. And while we had to make the difficult decision to delay our drone, Karma, the upside is that Karma’s launch should now benefit from the holidays.”
GoPro sales began to slide in the final quarter of 2015, after reaching record numbers in the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter of 2015 GoPro generated $200 million USD less than it did the year before.
At the beginning of this quarter, GoPro released the Hero 4 Session, but disappointing sales forced the company to cut the camera’s price in half.
In addition, several action cameras, including the Hero+LCD, the Hero+, and the regular Hero were discontinued. This left the company with a rather scant product portfolio, a move which reportedly cost GoPro $57 million USD.
In addition to drones, GoPro has also been looking to 360 video to pull it out of what’s beginning to look like an insurmountable financial slump.
According to The Verge, the company released the first sample footage from its six-camera Omni rig today, which costs about $5,000 in total.
Where the camera company goes from here is unknown, but it seems to be making some significant cuts to ensure its new projects are sustainable in the longterm.
Related reading: GoPro releases “Omni” VR camera rig for casual filmmakers
[source]GoPro[/source][via]The Verge[/]
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