GoPro unveils new spherical camera, quadcopter drone plans

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — GoPro has come to define and dominate the action camera market.

But with the threat of cheaper competition coming out of Asia, and potentially Apple, what does the company do as its next act?

At Code here, CEO Nick Woodman outlined his vision. The company is bringing out two new products.

Woodman unveiled an early version of a product coming out in the second half of the year, a camera meant to capture "spherical content." It consists of 6 Hero4 cameras and a mounting accessory. It won't be cheap, and won't go mainstream at least right away, with Woodman equating it to a DSLR solution.

GoPro will also be making a "quadcopter" drone—a drone with four rotors—to come out the first half of next year. Woodman didn't say what it would cost.

"As soon as you enable people to fly their cameras around it enables their imagination," he said.

For all the new hardware, Woodman is playing up GoPro's role as a supplier or enabler of content. "We have a very clear vision for the business," he says. The company is in the very early stages of testing software that will wirelessly sync up GoPro footage to the cloud, he said.

GoPro's GPRO stock is trading at $53.28, well above the $24 price GoPro went public at about 11 months ago. But it's a been a bumpy ride, with the stock once trading as high as $98.47.

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