Quik is a video editing app that automatically detects the biggest highlights based on motion and other factors and assembles them into a shareable video, even syncing the footage with the beat of a chosen soundtrack. The app, which the company enhanced after buying two different startups last year, is designed to fight the perception that editing GoPro video into something short enough that social media followers won’t scroll past is difficult, with an automated editing system. While the app is developed by GoPro, the program works with video from any source, including a smartphone.
The Quik app is free, but GoPro is hoping that pre-installing the app on Huawei smartphones will encourage users to take their videos even further with some GoPro hardware. According to Bloomberg, the change aims to push the brand in China, where Huawei Technologies is based.
GoPro announced late last year that it would be restructuring — including cutting 200 positions — in an effort to return to profitability after demand for the action cameras slowed in the firm’s most prominent markets, including the U.S.
The move to include Quik as a native Huawei app supports two of the five areas GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman said the company would focus on: simplifying the storytelling process with a smartphone connection and growing internationally. The app, paired with the Hero5’s new voice control capabilities, helps to fight an issue where action cameras capture several minutes just to share a few seconds of peak action.
According to Bloomberg, while U.S. sales have declined, sales in Asia doubled in the fourth quarter of last year, with the region now making up about 18 percent of the company’s revenue.
