Get the latest tech news How to check Is Temu legit? How to delete trackers
TECH
GoPro

Action camera makers Ion, Contour team up to compete with GoPro

Mike Snider
USA TODAY
Multiple-colored versions of the SnapCam, a WiFi action camera due later this summer.

Action camera competitors Ion Cameras and Contour are merging in hopes of becoming a stronger competitor to GoPro.

Ion Cameras CEO and founder Giovanni Tomaselli will serve as CEO of the new company, while Contour CEO James Harrison will be president.

Combined, Ion Contour has a market valuation of $100 million, the company said. GoPro (GPRO), which dominates the action camera market, went public last year and saw its revenue rise 54% in the first quarter of 2015 to $363 million from $235.7 million in the same period last year.

A pioneer in the action camera market, Contour has been making so-called point-of-view cameras for more than a decade. But in 2013 it downsized and briefly went out of business, but then began retooling last year.

The two companies began discussions earlier this year and "it made a lot of sense to bring the two companies together," said Tomaselli, who founded Ion two years ago.

The Contour Roam3, a waterproof HD video camera.

In addition to high-quality products, Contour has a robust patent portfolio that involves features such as wireless connectivity, GPS and instant-on capability, he said.

"Now we will be able to bring great innovations to market much more quickly," Harrison said in a statement. "The combination of Ion and Contour creates a camera company ready for the future of video capture and live streaming."

Their planned product line, which will have products branded as Ion and Contour, will continue to expand beyond action cameras. Ion has begun selling home monitoring systems and has a new $150 wearable WiFi HD SnapCam product due later this summer.

Ion Camera's SnapCam is a wearable WiFi HD action camera, due later this summer.

"Our business is going to go beyond (action cameras)," Tomaselli said. "We are already in the home, the car, the wearable space and the hunting and fishing space."

Overall, the point-of-view camcorder market grew 23% to $1.8 billion in 2014, according to research firm IDC, and is expected to grow an average of 15% to $2.9 billion by 2018.

The combined Ion-Contour company anticipates $380 million in sales that will give it more than 12% market share by 2018.

Teaming and expanding the market for connected cameras "is really the only way they can compete with GoPro at this point," said IDC's Chris Chute. "I think they are really committed to expanding beyond just action cams. We'll see them really dive deep into what it means to have a wearable that doesn't have to do with skiing."

Featured Weekly Ad