Consumer Electronics

GoPro's New Design Chief From Apple May Not Help at All

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: April 14, 2016 6:44 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 10:47 am

The shares of GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) rallied 19% when the appointment of former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) executive Daniel (Danny) Coster as its new Vice President of Design was announced. He has not designed a single product for the faltering camera company, and whatever he designs may not be a success at all.

With the surge, GoPro shares reached $13.90, within a 52-week range of $9.01 and $69.45. The stock is off 65% over the past year, compared to a 1% drop in the S&P 500. Wall Street continues to see GoPro has as a major failure.

Among Wall Street’s concerns about GoPro is that it has a “narrow moat,” a way of saying that many competitors could enter its business. Coster does not widen that moat, at least for now, even though the company described his addition with wild excitement:

A core member of Apple’s elite industrial design team for more than 20 years, Mr. Coster is credited for his contributions to a wide range of now iconic consumer electronics ranging from the iPhone 4 to the iPad wireless keyboard. He holds more than 500 design patents and several utility patents, and has been recognized by several international design organizations for his work.

Among the competitors that could sink GoPro are Apple and Samsung, which continue to build progressively better smartphones that have many features nearly identical to GoPro cameras.

GoPro investors have counted their chickens before they have hatched, a mistake made by many investors before.