GoPro plunges after Apple gains remote camera patent

SAN FRANCISCO: GoPro Inc shares plummeted 12 percent, their steepest decline since August, after Apple Inc was granted a patent for a remote-control camera system. The stock dropped to $49.87 at the close in New York. The plunge followed Apple gaining a patent today from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a system that lets consumers control a digital camera remotely. Investors are concerned that the patent will let Apple, the world's largest company by market valuation, make products that are similar to what GoPro offers, said Charlie Anderson, an analyst at Dougherty & Co. Apple sold more than 270 million units of its various products in fiscal 2014. Jeff Brown, a spokesman for San Mateo, California-based GoPro, wasn't available for comment. Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman at Cupertino, California-based Apple, declined to comment.

Apple receives thousands of patents each year, most of which never lead to products, Anderson said. He said it's more likely that Apple would use the remote capability included in the patent to let customers control the zoom and other photo and video settings on their iPhone or iPad cameras from another Apple device.

"GoPro has done well, but we're talking about four million units and $1 billion in revenue in the past year," he said. "Apple doesn't do things with single-digit millions of units in mind." GoPro, which went public in June and is trading at more than twice its initial public offering price of $24 a share, has been volatile in recent months. The world's biggest maker of wearable cameras used by surfers and sports enthusiasts to record their exploits is facing questions about its ability to create a media business around the videos that consumers post online using their GoPro devices.

About half of the company's outstanding shares will also become available on the market on Feb. 17 when a lock-up lifts on employees and other insiders' shares, Anderson said.

GoPro Chief Executive Officer Nick Woodman founded the company in 2002 to sell wrist-attached cameras that let surfers capture first-person videos of their rides. Even amid competition from larger companies such as Sony Corp., GoPro dominates the market for these point-of-view camcorders, along with camera mounts designed for skiers, fishermen, bicyclists and others. While competitors, including Sony, unveiled new high-resolution cameras at the Consumer Electronics Show this month, GoPro's prominent brand will let it maintain market share, said Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC.