Before consumer drones were even a thing, GoPros were everywhere. Mounted to cars, motorcycles, bicycles, surf boards, you name it – you could put a GoPro on it. It seemed to only make sense to also put one on a drone. And that’s exactly what GoPro did with the Karma… though maybe a little too late.
Today in a press release highlighting their preliminary Fourth Quarter results for 2017, GoPro officially announced that the Karma Drone will soon have its wings clipped. Citing ‘margin challenges, an extremely competitive aerial market, and a hostile regulatory environment,’ GoPro plans to exit the drone market once it has sold through its remaining Karma inventory. GoPro does note that they will continue to provide support and service to existing and future Karma customers though, so if you already have a Karma you won’t be stuck with a very expensive brick should you have an issue.
Bad Karma
Karma has had a rough flight since it was first launched, including a complete recall after battery latch failures led to the drones losing power mid flight and plummeting to the ground. Since then, the drones have been updated with new battery latches and are back in the air, but it might have been too little, too late.
Along with the drone news, the company is also announcing that they will be laying off more than 250 employees worldwide to bring their work force down from 1,254, to less than 1,000. All of this doesn’t look that great for the action camera giant, but who knows – it could make it a good time to pick up a Karma for a bargain!
