While YouTube has become the household name in video sharing on the Web, Vimeo has also created a nice niche for itself. The site has a highly curated feel than its Google counterpart, and many of the high-resolution videos are very polished. But Vimeo has been slower in getting into the mobile space. That accelerated today as the company announced it is acquiring Echograph, an iOS app that turns videos into shareable animated GIFs.
Vimeo’s acquisition could be viewed as a response to Vine, Twitter’s new app that creates six-second video clips that’s shared via user twitter feeds. (The app has also recently caused a bit of commotion.) As Web usage continues to strengthen on mobile devices, Vimeo’s move could push the company ahead in this space. Of course, that’s still too early to tell.
According to TechCrunch, Vimeo not only takes over Echograph’s parent company Clear-Media, but Echograph creator Nick Alt will transition from Clear-Media CEO to vice president of mobile at Vimeo, who will spearhead development. The operations team will remain in Los Angeles, giving Vimeo a West Coast presence. Terms of the deal were not announced.
The two companies will remain separate brands for now, but the good news for users is that Echograph will go from paid app to a free one.
What is Echograph? from Nick Alt on Vimeo.
