I love GoPro's marketing and what they've done to bring light to this market but even with their Karma Drone coming it still doesn't make sense for Apple to pony up this type of money.
I'd rather see Apple acquire Vimeo and make that the platform that Apple users use to display their creative video content.
I don't get the negativity towards GoPro. Their cameras are much more advanced then some lens in a small square box. I think GoPro would actually be a good fit for Apple. GoPro has a lot of good patented technology in their cameras. Quite a few of GoPro's patents would actually be good for iPhone cameras. GoPro has several patents related to how their camera sensors work, patents for image processing, etc. All of GoPro's camera housings and mounts are patented. GoPro is not a niche product as some claim. GoPro has 30% of the digital video camera market. GoPro is seeing huge growth overseas. It looks like GoPro will soon be entering the billion dollar drone market, which is expected to reach 2 billion in 2016.
GoPro has a total of 56 patents to their name. $3B would be quite the premium IMO.
Aren't they mostly design patents? All of their technology is off-the-shelf components.
I don't get the negativity towards GoPro. Their cameras are much more advanced then some lens in a small square box. I think GoPro would actually be a good fit for Apple. GoPro has a lot of good patented technology in their cameras. Quite a few of GoPro's patents would actually be good for iPhone cameras. GoPro has several patents related to how their camera sensors work, patents for image processing, etc. All of GoPro's camera housings and mounts are patented. GoPro is not a niche product as some claim. GoPro has 30% of the digital video camera market. GoPro is seeing huge growth overseas. It looks like GoPro will soon be entering the billion dollar drone market, which is expected to reach 2 billion in 2016.
GoPro has a total of 56 patents to their name. $3B would be quite the premium IMO.
Aren't they mostly design patents? All of their technology is off-the-shelf components.
A good portion of the patents are related to the design and the various mounts GoPro sells. The rest of the patents are related to image processing.
EDIT: What's interesting is Apple was awarded a patent earlier this year that's a wearable video camera you can secure to sports equipment or use under water. I guess the design is similar to GoPro's design. Another thing I wanted to add is it would be extremely beneficial to Apple acquiring GoPro if they plan to enter the soon to be booming virtual reality market. Apple has already hired engineers that were working on virtual reality hardware. GoPro has the technology and patents for capturing 360-degree video needed to create virtual reality video.
Those "analysts" should be investigated for stock manipulation. I'd like to know if they or their clients bought or sold GoPro stock during this baseless rumor being floated.
Thanks SS for this post. It was my first thought. I am pissed about the market only moving on nonsense these days.
I can see value in them purchasing the company. It's not just about optics. it's about getting into the wearable/action/sport sphere. The brands align nicely.
Frankly, for me, it has at least as much justification than Beats.
But Beats was and still is a big bewilderment to most.
So will be gopro. I doubt it will ever happen .
Gopro prowess is in its marketing capability.. If Apple wanted to replicate gopro it would cost a couple order magnitude less.
There is no valuable technology there for apple..
IMHO
If you use the perspective that "Apple can do it themselves", then almost every acquisition Apple has ever made wouldn't have made sense. The point of such an acquisition is to take a competitor off of the market, to get to market faster with a known brand and to use their technology in other products.
While GoPro stock is way down and they're apparently having problems, they created a totally new market for action cameras from scratch. And the profits might not even be in the camera itself, but in all the accessories. Go into some physical camera stores and see all the space devoted to GoPro and its accessories. It's actually quite impressive.
Cost aside (and I think with all the cash Apple has sitting around, cost is not really a factor), I think this actually could be a good acquisition for Apple (certainly better than Beats was). Much tighter integration between GoPro and Apple's products could benefit both companies.
I participate in a Nikon forum and one of the things I've said there is that Nikon missed the boat on pro-video, action cameras (except for their one waterproof point-and-shoot) and drone cameras. GoPro and the Drone companies have proven that there are consumer markets to replace the ever-declining point-and-shoot market (which itself has been killed by smartphone cameras) and Canon has proven that there's a strong market for pro-level video.
On the other hand, Apple could take the basics of an iPod Touch (with WiFi), put it in a new waterproof and shockproof case and create mounts and accessories for it to do what GoPro already does or have the equivalent of a GoPro camera that works with an existing iPhone the same way as the Apple Watch works with the iPhone. But they might have to get over their thinness obsession to make it all work.
But having said all that, I think the rumor is b.s.
The Beats acquistion was much better.
GoPro dominates the market and they only have about $2 billion in revenue. The market is way too small and niche for Apple to bother with.
Streaming music is a massive potential market. Possibly $30-$50 billion worldwide. Streaming music and headphones are a much better match than action camera's.
And Beats offered a huge customer base, a cultural shift for Apple's typical customer. Now thosewhottpically buy Beats will be compelled to buy Apple (and not Android).
That acquisition would fit about as well as OJ Simpson's glove.
I concur with others that it sounds like stock manipulation. The only news I've recently read pertaining to GoPro is a company in China who's making a similar product for a cheaper price:
Comments
I'd rather see Apple acquire Vimeo and make that the platform that Apple users use to display their creative video content.
EDIT: What's interesting is Apple was awarded a patent earlier this year that's a wearable video camera you can secure to sports equipment or use under water. I guess the design is similar to GoPro's design. Another thing I wanted to add is it would be extremely beneficial to Apple acquiring GoPro if they plan to enter the soon to be booming virtual reality market. Apple has already hired engineers that were working on virtual reality hardware. GoPro has the technology and patents for capturing 360-degree video needed to create virtual reality video.
Thanks SS for this post. It was my first thought. I am pissed about the market only moving on nonsense these days.
I concur with others that it sounds like stock manipulation. The only news I've recently read pertaining to GoPro is a company in China who's making a similar product for a cheaper price:
http://www.dpreview.com/articles/6947522445/chinese-maker-xiaomi-challenges-gopro-with-new-yi-action-camera