Could Build On Alphabet, Facebook Partnerships To Make New Drone Stand Out

GoPro is in the sport camera business, and its sport cameras are used on many UAVs to capture images in flight. Last year, GoPro announced the Karma, which would be its entry into the UAV market. But with so much ground to make up over companies like DJI and Yuneec, how could they make their proprietary aircraft stand out?

Well, GoPro is not saying yet, but The Motley Fool cites a report from Sean O'Kane in The Verge that suggest that it may look to its recently-developed 360 degree camera rigs to give it  boost.

Last year, GoPro partnered with Alphabet (Google) to create a 16-camera rig it called Odyssey for use in virtual reality filmmaking. There is also a less-expensive six camera spherical device that offers similar results for a lower cost. It also partnered with Facebook to offer 360 degree videos on its news feed. Google launched Jump as a way to host the virtual reality (VR) videos on the cloud.

And while more established UAV companies do offer the ability to mount a 360 degree camera such as the Kodak PixPro SP360 4K, none has a proprietary system for capturing the VR videos from a drone.

That, and its partnerships with Google and Facebook, could be the kick that GoPro needs, the report says.

However, it's all speculation. Only one video from a Karma UAV has been released by GoPro, and no technical specs have been offered or leaked. All the very hungry consumer UAV market can do now is wait, and watch.

([L-R] GoPro Spherical and Odyssey camera rigs provided by GoPro)

FMI: Full Report