Meerkat to launch feature on iOS that lets GoPro3 and, soon, GoPro4 owners stream from camera
Julia Boorstin / CNBC :
Context & Ripple Effects
Meerkat's livestreaming app began as an iOS tool for broadcasting to Twitter followers in March, then raced Twitter's Periscope onto Android first and rolled out a developer platform explicitly framed as differentiation from its better-distributed rival. The GoPro streaming feature extends that same strategy from software hooks to camera hardware: instead of fighting Periscope for phone cameras, Meerkat is wiring action cameras directly into its pipeline.
The move matters because it tests whether hardware integration can substitute for the social-graph advantage Periscope enjoys inside Twitter. Periscope's own GoPro integration arrived only months later (January 2016), confirming the battleground had shifted to devices.
First-order effects
- GoPro3 owners on iOS gain a one-tap path to broadcast camera footage straight to their Meerkat followers, no screen-capture workarounds required — with GoPro4 support promised next.
Second-order effects
- Periscope is forced to match the hardware play, and does: its own GoPro integration lands within months, turning action-camera compatibility from differentiator into table stakes.
Third-order effects
- If feature parity keeps erasing Meerkat's edges while Periscope retains Twitter-native distribution, the endpoint visible in this corpus is Meerkat abandoning livestreaming altogether — pivoting to group video chat (Houseparty) and a broader video social network — leaving the action-camera integration race to Periscope alone.
The trend: Livestreaming apps are competing on camera-hardware integrations because distribution, not features, decided the Meerkat-versus-Periscope fight.