Nick Woodman talks Karma and the future of GoPro
Our biggest hint yet that Karma will work with existing cameras.
GoPro head honcho Nick Woodman joined Engadget on stage at CES, and took the chance to tease more info about the much talked about quadcopter, Karma. Not much is known about how it will look, but Woodman explained that "We make everything backwards compatible, our goal is that your older GoPro will work with anything new we make, and vice versa." Near confirmation that Karma will work with its existing line of cameras, and won't have one built in.
A move that make more sense when you have so many GoPro owners out there already (to sell drones to). Woodman also described how Karma is designed "To be woven into someone's active lifestyle" and that the "versatile approach of GoPros" will be carried over to Karma. He also touched on the challenges of making VR accessible to consumers without needing multiple cameras, further suggesting a standalone 360 camera isn't ready yet (least of all for a drone).
Woodman also took the chance to explain the stuttered start of the Hero Session, putting it down to a learning experience. One that he suggests ultimately helped them "course correct," letting the square camera find its place in the GoPro range. He also confirmed we'll be seeing more square cameras in the future. "We're going to continue with this form factor, and continue to evolve it, and bring more performance to this form factor." Analysts will have twitched at his mention of Apple, and admiration of their user experience, but that's more to do with simplicity of its cameras going forward, than that long-rumoured buy out.
