GoPro（户外运动相机）的流行与困境
GoPro launches Hero 4 Session cube camera in design shift（484words）

By Tim Bradshaw

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GoPro is breaking away from the camera design it has used since switching from 35mm film to digital video nine years ago as it tries to battle increased competition.

This month’s launch of the $399.99 cube-shaped Hero 4 Session, which is half the size of its flagship Hero 4 Silver and Black devices, comes as part of a shake-up this year that includes lower prices and new products, including 360-degree “spherical” video and a remote-controlled flying drone.

By broadening its range, GoPro hopes to sustain its lead over a growing number of rival action cameras from Sony, iON, Xiaomi, HTC and Polaroid.

Nick Woodman, GoPro’s chief executive, said the Session was the company’s “smallest, lightest, most convenient GoPro”.

The company described it as a personal project for Mr Woodman, who launched the first of GoPro’s rugged, portable cameras in 2004, with the first digital camera coming two years later.

The Session boasts high-definition 1080p video, at up to 60 frames per second, and 8 megapixel still photos, similar specifications to the middle of GoPro’s existing range. It will also be able to work with most of the company’s existing mounts and other accessories, which have been central to the brand’s appeal to action sports aficionados.

But the device does away with most of the screens and buttons of its traditional devices, instead pairing wirelessly to a smartphone or optional remote control to view captured footage and change camera settings.

GoPro is hoping to improve the accessibility of its devices. Like Polaroid’s $100 Cube device, the Session has just one main button on the top, to start and end recording. It is waterproof without needing an extra case and has a dual-microphone system that makes for clearer sound recording.

Polaroid is releasing a new version of the Cube this month, costing $150, which adds wireless connectivity.

According to analysts at IDC, GoPro accounts for more than half of all action-camera sales. The launch of the Session, which will go on sale in most markets this month, follows the June launch of the Hero+, an entry-level device costing $300, to help fend off lower-priced competition from Chinese manufacturers.

Mr Woodman announced in May that GoPro would launch a drone camera within the next 12 months, capitalising on growing interest in aerial photography thanks to the falling cost of remote-controlled quadcopters such as DJI’s Phantom. GoPro is also working with Google to create a 360-degree camera made up of 16 Hero devices.

In addition, GoPro announced new accessories and mounts across its Hero range, from a foam case that reduces wind noise to the “Floaty” to keep the Session from sinking.

The company’s valuation has increased by about two-thirds since its initial public offering just over a year ago, as it continues to post strong growth. But its stock, which closed at $51.75 on Friday, is trading well below its highs of more than $90 last October.