[GoPro Hero4 Session - Courtesy of GoPro]
GoPro, the manufacturer of the worldwide famous action camera is cutting about 7 percent of its workforce after experiencing poor sales in the fourth quarter of 2015.
The pioneer of action cameras- that’s what people called GoPro. But its flourishing empire struggled last year after releasing a new model “Hero4 Session”, a smaller version, but with all the features its brothers had. The reason for struggle? It was just too expensive.
Drop in sales noticeably did GoPro some damage. According to GoPro, it likely had made U.S$ 435 million revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015. It may sound alright, but analysts expected the action camera giant to make over $510 million. Fate is unclear for GoPro until the exact numbers come in next month.
Hong Jin-kwang, who had been the chief of filming at one of the largest South Korean commercial filmmaking company, sees the downfall of GoPro was inevitable. “Although GoPro provides superb images, it is a little expensive than its competitors,” said Mr. Hong. “There are tons of alternatives around. Smartphone cameras are getting better day by day, and China-made action cameras being sold online for less than half the price of GoPro.”
GoPro had been keeping high-price policy on its products. Hong explained that it had become the double-edged sword. “Professionals in need of action cameras will definitely go for GoPro. But for amateurs? There’s no need for them to buy expensive GoPro models when they can get cheaper cameras which work just as fine.”
아주경제 박세진 기자 = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
