GoPro Opens Up to External Developers Again

Camera News

by Julian MitchellJuly 5^th, 2021

There was a time when GoPro was the darling of the financial markets. Their share price was soaring, their market monopoly was impressive and their product name became culturally significant: the action genre shot became known as the ‘GoPro’ shot. But cheaper GoPro copies mainly from China, the rise of the smartphone, as well as DJI and some of their failed products like their Karma Drone started a downward slide.

But the company is on the rise again as they have morphed from a front-facing retail product to a direct–to–a-niche–consumer brand via the GoPro website. Their one million website subscriber base is rewarded with discounts on new cameras and also newer lifestyle products like Mezcal floating polarized sunglasses at $79.00 and a weekender backpack at $129.99 for your GoPro and laptop. First-quarter revenues this year from Gopro.com were $82.1 million which is 40.3% of total revenues, up 224.5%.

Now a web business

Other benefits of GoPro’s subscription Cloud service includes unlimited cloud storage of your GoPro footage at 100% quality, up to 50% off mounts, accessories, and lifestyle gear, and a no-questions-asked camera replacement. A free sign-up gives you an immediate $200 saving on a Hero9 Black camera bundle.

The ‘Plus’ website service has inevitably been a result of a Pandemic ‘bounce’ for the company but we’ll see if the subscription service can return the good times to the company. Part of their resurgence has been a recent opening up of their camera’s IP to third-party developers. GoPro tried a similar thing back in 2016 when they soft-launched a program to support companies wanting to develop a user experience between their own and GoPro products. This time the development program is called ‘Open GoPro’ and has targeted the Hero 9 Black camera to open up.

Open GoPro, revisited

Developers have access to the following Hero9 Black features:

• Wireless connectivity
• Camera command and control
• Camera status
• Camera preview
• SD card media review and transfer

Back in 2016, the only way development could be achieved was through mobile apps, through creating devices that either connect physically to a GoPro camera or wirelessly. Participating developers back then included BMW with their car telemetry recorder, Fisher-Price with their child-friendly Nanny-cam, and Timecode Systems with their SynchBac Pro timecode box.

Developers circa 2021 include:

• Amazfit Smartwatches – wirelessly control your GoPro using the Amazfit watch touch display.
• Centurion Boats – wirelessly control your GoPro via the boat’s helm control screen.
• Orqa FPV Goggles – wirelessly control a GoPro mounted on an FPV drone using Orqa’s FPV.Connect app and see camera status directly in the goggles.
• Pixellot Sport broadcasting – wirelessly control GoPro cameras and manage the transfer of content via Pixellot’s mobile platform.
• Sena Bluetooth® devices – take voice-control of your GoPro using the built-in mics on the Sena Communications 50S and 50R headsets, ideal for motorcycle and other high-wind applications.

For more information visit: GoPro.com/openGoPro

Are you a recent GoPro customer? How is your GoPro.com customer experience? Let us know in the comments below.