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Comment by k-mcgrady | Hacker News Reader

>> "I wonder what GoPro's end game is here."

Marketing. GoPro is at the point now where people use the word to refer to a certain type/style of video. This will help push it further in that direction making GoPro synonymous with point of view/onboard camera. Think of the recent NFL issue with commentators referring to MS Surface as 'an iPad like device'. Or the classic example of tissues being referred to as Kleenex. This will push GoPro further in that direction. There are also probably a lot of hockey playing kids who will want one of the cameras so it could also boost sales more directly.

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Yep...ever heard of Coutour? They've arguably got a better product because of their form factor that's less obnoxious to wear. But almost no one has heard of them whereas GoPro, as you point out, is synonymous with this type of video.

But there's another facet to this kind of marketing. Try contrasting videos like this that GoPro puts out for promotional purposes with the kinds of videos that the average person creates with a GoPro. These are fun to watch and full of unique views of cool stuff. The ones that average people create are, for the most part, boring. Yet their market is 99% people who make the boring kind of videos. If their marketing showed the kinds of videos that most people would be creating, no one would buy them. By showing videos like this, they get people inspired enough to think that they can shoot something cool.

Correction: It should read "Contour" above. I am in the camp that believes the form factor is superior over the GoPro's box shape. Link: http://contour.com/

Actually what happened to Kleenex (and Google, and iPad) is what many companies want to _avoid_, because it lowers the value of the trademark. When your trademark becomes the generic word for something, it's more difficult to protect it against infringement.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark

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