Tune into this month’s segment of GoPro’s ‘You Asked, We Answered’ series. The competition is steep – In this episode, you’ll hear from GoPro’s Senior Director of Aerial Products, Pablo Lema, and get the gist of features offered in the KARMA system.
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Pablo Lemo works on the Product Team and specifically the KARMA line which relaunched in February 2017. Pablo told Ace+ Media that he is a neurotic drone user, and the biggest question you should ask yourself when considering a drone product is figure out why you want to use a drone in the first place?
GoPro leans in on the important things to the user, to capture and share those experiences to many alike. While the crowded market shows today, GoPro has been losing out to the competition for a variety of reasons, such as lag in deliverance and staying relevant with today’s consumer demands. Still, that doesn’t mean these are lost markets, just that the company might be fighting an uphill battle in the years ahead.
GoPro told Ace+ Media that they want to make products that lets you capture the special moments the same way we did it with GoPro HERO, now add on the power of stabilization. Electronic image stabilization has been a big theme in marketing action cameras, and GoPro does it best compared to the competition in the action camera market. The HERO5 cameras come equipped with image stabilization, but ultimately the KARMA Grip does it best.
KARMA is meant to adapt to what you are doing so that you can focus on the best shared memories. Speaking of which, the best captured memories are not just one type of shot or of a place by itself. More often the shot of you doing something in an environment is what makes the shot. Pablo Lema goes onto explaining the difference with filming a skier vs. getting the point of view from a skier.
Enabling what we see in our head, and try to portray what we’re doing to somebody else. – Pablo Lema, GoPro Inc. Senior Director of Aerial Products
The KARMA System
GoPro essentially redesigned the latch mechanism for the battery during the recall period in 2016. Under the hood of the drone is additional metal clips to retain the battery. Employees at GoPro beta tested the entire system especially for those with zero drone flight experience. The KARMA comes pre-built with scaffolding flight simulators and an extremely user-friendly touchscreen interface.
User interface shows only the important stuff while lynched with the video game inspired controller joysticks. The development team achieved a quicker learning curve for new users while preventing paralysis by eliminating too much info in the heads-up display.
In the domain of investors and business analysts, they argue that the cameras on smartphones that most people have in their pockets are in some ways better than GoPro cameras, certainly easier to edit and share images from within a smartphone. GoPro’s response to those concerns are vast. They just released the Passenger app which allows the passenger, a secondary user to the drone, to shoot and control the KARMA gimbal. The user can then edit and share their experiences via the GoPro QUIK app.
Undisclosed Perks vs. Competition
GoPro does not officially say it that the KARMA system is water resistant but it has flown in the San Francisco fog as life’s proof in ruggedness. The company does not guarantee water resistance albeit they have provided a super customer friendly program namely GoPro Care. If you have a scenario to make sure the investment is protected, GoPro is offering GoPro Care with a 2 year coverage on the products. Pablo Lemo goes on to elaborate that the relationship should not end after product purchase, GoPro Care basically becomes an extension of the bear hug to the loyal user.
The Flight Kit – COMING SOON
Some patrons of GoPro feel like they are being punished for being early adopters of the gimbal and would not want to spend more money just to buy the KARMA system. GoPro will be introducing the Flight Kit which is a stripped down version of the original bundle.
Visit our Facebook page for an in depth look and hear from Pablo Lema, GoPro’s Senior Director of Aerial Products.
Catch the February 2017 segment of ‘You Asked, We Answered’ series
https://www.facebook.com/gopro/videos/10154564278051919/
