Widely published, Go Pro Karma is officially at end of life according to GoPro. While it was announced with great fanfare, product delays, rapidly changing feature sets, and fierce competition for players such as DJI all worked against the Karma and finally GoPro announced that it was shutting down production of the Karma.
According to DroneLife.com, during their recent coverage of the lead-up to the shutdown, Go Pro Cuts Jobs, this move coincided with financial reporting and job cuts from the consumer camera giant.
According to Airvuz, Karma reached the number 2 spot in 2017 in the space.
Airvuz continues, “Just a little more than a year after getting into the drone industry, GoPro is bowing out.
The company known for its line of compact action cameras revealed Tuesday that it’s ending production of its Karma drone. GoPro noted the Karma “reached the number two market position in its price range in 2017.” However, they cited an “extremely competitive market,” challenging profit margins, and “a hostile regulatory environment” as reasons for the decision.
An initial delay caused the Karma drone to be released in November 2016. Just weeks later, a mass recall was issued after an engineering fault caused multiple aircraft to lose power and drop out of the sky.
Karma was meant to drive growth in the company after a tough 2016, but they also said Tuesday 300 jobs would be cut – roughly 20 percent of the company’s workforce.
GoPro says they will continue to provide service and support to Karma customers and you’ll continue to see the drones on shelves until stock has run out.”
DRL is sort of sad to see them go, competition is good for the industry. We always thought that GoPro would have better off buying a smaller player and rebranding but they may have fallen prey to a little bit of hubris.