GoPro is looking to expand its business of video cameras and delve into the world of virtual reality.
In the Re/Code's Code Conference in California last Wednesday, GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman laid out his company's plans into the future. Although there are no details on any upcoming GoPro Hero video cameras, the company boss said that they would be branching out into two new areas: virtual reality and drones.
GoPro will be building equipment, much like an accessory, that would be able to capture videos in all directions. Calling it a "six-camera spherical array," the contraption is like a spherical ball which can be fitted with up to six Hero 4 cameras, allowing the user to capture photos and videos all around a location – a true 360-degree view. The videos can then be stitched together and will be compatible with virtual reality headsets such as the upcoming consumer version of the Oculus Rift, Microsoft's HoloLens, and Google's Cardboard system, which is already in the pipeline.
In addition, the company is strengthening its hold on the active lifestyle camera industry by incorporating cloud access to future GoPro cameras. The software is in alpha stage right now and is being tested in-house. Once it is released, the software will allow users to sync the GoPro cameras into cloud storage automatically, thereby doing away with storing the data in an SD card or having to connect first the camera to a computer.
Also, Woodman said that GoPro is currently working on a quadcopter drone so that GoPro camera owners can also do aerial photography and capture video footages from an airborne perspective.
Woodman said, "It seemed natural to us that we're in the GoPro enabling business and drones are the ultimate GoPro accessory...that was all the rationale we needed to say OK. It's core enough to our business to make sense to make our own."
