Technology

they did not learn from kodiak camera.

Insta360 does the same. I downloaded the app, registered the camera, and deleted the app. On my kid's tablet; my phone is too old for the app. If GoPro only requires such a rudimentary registration, it's a matter of 5 extra minutes. Now, if they require the app for transferring videos, that's a whole different problem...

And the second highest comment is "wHY arE YoU bUyINg nEW TeCH wItH aN OlD pHOnEeeee?" (Because OP's complaint is about how they don't have a phone capable of running the app rather than just a "why the fuck does this need an app?")

Though there's a non-zero chance those replies are made by someone with a vested interest. It's annoying how both those and people who have just drunk the koolaid are pretty much impossible to tell apart.

Hah, and here I was thinking of getting a GoPro as a dash cam/rear cam. Sucks to suck GoPro lost another customer.

A lot of the comments look to me like part of the reason for the failure. At least the old ones continue to work almost forever. They product was so good that people aren't replacing them. This leads to them releasing overpriced crappy products to make up for it.

I wish we lived in a world where making the best product, that is reliable and durable, for as cheap as possible was standard and made sense. We've essentially made it so it doesn't work.

The correct option seems to be, to me, for them to not have scaled like they have. They should have been a niche durable action camera, and their costs would have stayed low. Every product that sells though is told they have to scale as much as possible forever, until it kills the product.

And the exact same model just rebranded!

The Harley Davidson or Fender business model.

Agreed. I have a Hero 10 Black and basically every time I go to use it I wind up wanting to hurl it into the sun by the time I'm done. My wife bought it for me as a birthday present a couple of years ago because I asked for one specifically (I didn't know any better, apparently) so it would probably be rude to do so, though.

It overheats, it randomly shuts off, it routinely experiences a firmware crash that renders all of its buttons inoperable and requires pulling the battery to cure. Oh, and it also has a battery life best measured in seconds so you need to keep it plugged in to external power all the time which requires an aftermarket accessory. Brilliant.

With any luck mine will get taken out in some spectacular and marketable fashion, preferably while recording at top quality so I can post it and use the video revenue to buy an Insta Ace or something.

I wonder if there are other " genericized trademark" companies that have failed that spectacularly. You can still buy Frigidaire refrigerators. Vaccuuming is known as "hoovering" in the UK, and Hoover is still around.

It would be pretty interesting if "a GoPro" exists as a word for an action camera and the company / brand no longer exists.

I appreciate a good amateur comedian, but I really think you have the chops to GoPro.

They stopped selling an OK camera and started selling cameras that overheat in the shade with dark patterns to try and force you into using their mobile app for video processing.

I disagree there, the market of people who record their outdoors activities was always limited and quickly got boring. Eventually, competitors caught up and many of them focused on products in better form factors for non-extreme sports that were better for a wider range of people. There is a reason why the likes of DJI and Insta360 are the goto products for those that don't utilize larger cameras.

They all overheat.

So many people go to years of business school to get specialized degrees in very specific aspects of business.

When I was younger, I thought they must know what they're doing.

Since then, in the past 20 years I've watched so many huge companies that are too big to fail, go under and cease operations.

I mean for christs sake! How the fuck does SEARS go under???

For any Gen-Z people who may not be firmiliar with Sears, I want you to imagine if you get to age 40, and Amazon just stops existing and goes out of business. Personally I think SEARS in its day was bigger than Amazon is now. You used to be able to buy HOUSES from Sears.

So now I'm older, and I realize one thing. These businessmen with all their degrees and training and world of knowledge don't know the simple fundamental basics of business.

Step 1) Sell a quality product for a reasonable price.

Thats it. There is no step 2. You can try all day to fidget with the numbers, and raise prices, and shrink portions, and decrease quality. All you're doing is nickle and diming your customer base. You're destroying any good reputation you once had. You make an extra 5% profit on that singular sale.....and then lose a customer.

I once worked at a hotel. Every week this guy would come in, and rent a room. He barely used the room. Housekeepers always said it was like 5-10 minutes of cleaning (as opposed to 30-40 minutes). He always paid his room for the night in cash. And never was a problem. I charged $60 a night, which was on the low side for our hotel.

One day he comes in as the owner is with me. He decides to check in the regular. He tries charging $90, and demanded a credit card to be put on file for incidentals. Which is a rule we apply to most guests, but we know this guy isn't going to be a problem. I told the owner we don't need that for him, and he'll pay $60.

The owner argued, so I backed out. Then he and the guest got into an arguement. He didn't pay the $90, he never came back.

I told the owner "When I run my shift, I make sure these housekeepers are providing clean rooms. I make sure the maintence man is on call to fix any break downs. I make sure on my end the computers are functional, and I pass these guests through the checkin process with speed and efficiency. All while doing my best to make you the most money. The tools at my disposal are selling a quality product for a reasonable price. That may sound boring to you. I'm not maximizing profits on short term sales. I'm retaining regular customers through company growth and hospitality. Now I can't do much to make this hotel any higher quality, but I can at least satisfy the reasonable price aspect and try to retain repeat customers. But if you come in here and argue with customers, and run your company with a short sighted mentality, you'll run your hotel into the ground."

He argued with me. And thats when I knew I couldn't stay there much longer. I immediately started looking for a new job. I think a month later I left.

Within 2 years the city shut the place down because they failed a city inspection. Instead of saying "Yes, ok, I'll fix the violations", he instead decided to argue with, and threaten the mayor. Which is when they just straight up shut the property down. He paid 2 million for the property. I know for a fact he didn't make that money back. Then argued with a mayor until he threatened her, which resulted in him losing any chance for a profit.

Now for the kicker.

That story happened in 2019. Just last year the Cleveland Browns announced they were going to build a new stadium. That stadium would be built on land that was on the other side of a highway from where this hotel was.

Meaning, in 2029, once the stadium opens, you could walk out of your hotel room, walk to the end of the property, walk under the highway bridge, and now you're at the stadium. No need for a cab ride, it's a 3 minute walk.

During football season, he could be charging $400 per room, per night, and still be sold out.

Or, maybe the Haslams (owner of the Browns, and also will be the owners of this stadium) would maybe want to buy his hotel. He could have sold it for 20 million. He could have had a highly profitable hotel which is sold out every weekend during football season.

Instead, he took a loss. Because every businessman right now wants to direct the world around them with ego and stuborness.

Just sell a quality product, at a reasonable price. You can use that as a baseline to grow your business.