Video camera industry leader GoPro is venturing into new territories, with the company introducing products that take GoPro into virtual reality and drones.
Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro, revealed in an interview with Re/code's Kara Swisher at the Code Conference that the company is entering new categories with future products being the Six-Camera Spherical Array and a quadcopter.
The Six-Camera Spherical Array is a ball-shaped accessory mount where users can attach six Hero 4 cameras at different positions and directions. The mount is meant to be used to take high-resolution video and pictures to be used with virtual reality technologies.
The images and videos taken with the accessory can then be put together into a unified 6K spherical image using the virtual reality software Kolor, which GoPro purchased back in April.
The final video can then be watched using virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and the Microsoft HoloLens. The virtual reality video can also be watched using PCs and smartphones using either the apps for Kolor or YouTube 360.
According to Woodman, GoPro has previously had experiments with virtual reality, and the investments of Oculus, Facebook, Microsoft and Google only validated the platform's potential. This led the company to release a product related to the technology.
Woodman admitted that GoPro's Six-Camera Spherical Array may not see heavy adoption at first, as it may only appeal to professionals who already own several GoPro cameras and have prior knowledge in editing videos for virtual reality. For consumers, the GoPro CEO said that virtual reality products should be more affordable and simpler, but the six-camera mount could serve as proof of the capabilities of spherical videos.
GoPro has not revealed the price tag for the Six-Camera Spherical Array, but the accessory was revealed to have a release date within the second half of 2015.
In addition to its venture into virtual reality, Woodman also said that GoPro is developing a quadcopter, more popularly known as drones. Woodman declined to reveal any specific details regarding the project's design and price but said that the drone is being prepared for release in the first half of next year.
Despite the plan to release its own drone, GoPro will continue to work with drone manufacturing companies to develop cameras and software geared toward aerial photography and video.
"We recognize that consumers want choice," Woodman said. "Our primary focus is enabling great content, and however they want to do that, we're excited to be part of that."
