Cape Town – TomTom has launched its Bandit action camera in South Africa on Thursday as a direct attack on GoPro.
The company known for its personal navigation devices asserted that it intends to disrupt how action cameras work with the Bandit.
“Innovation in the action camera market has been a pissing game for the last five years. It’s been higher resolution and lower case size,” Patrick Stahl, global marketing director for the TomTom Bandit told Fin24.
The waterproof camera is rated to 40m and is packaged with an all-in-one case devoid of cables to connect to output devices.
“At the end of the day, consumers aren’t swayed by sheer marketing power. They’re swayed by the better product in the market. I think that lies at the root of any marketing success,” Stahl said.
Market share battle
TomTom said that its research revealed that for every one minute of YouTube video, users spent an average of over two hours in editing.
The Bandit is designed with an array of accelerometer, heart rate and GPS sensors so that the software is able to guess the most action-packed clips from recorded video.
“What the TomTom Bandit really does bring a new innovation in the market which is the complete reduction of the editing frustration. Turning hours of editing time into minutes is something that’s completely new to the category,” Stahl said.
Fighting GoPro may be a difficult battle for TomTom. International Data Corporation (IDC) data shows that the incumbent has a global market share of 42% market share out of 2.1 million devices shipped in 2014.
Pricing for the Bandit which has a three hour filming battery life starts at R5 799 for the basic camera up to R6 799 for the premium bundle.
The GoPro Hero4 camera typically retails for R6 499.
“It’s a competitive price in its category of 4K action cams and the functionality is significantly more,” Stahl asserted.
Watch athlete Damien Walters in action with the Bandit:
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