Following on from our breaking story about Contour Cameras shutting up shop, it has now become official that the company has gone into receivership. Even though the company’s webpage is still up and running, the company itself has shut its doors and is trying to find a buyer to hopefully take over and carry on.
Here’s the press release:
CONTOUR INC ENTERS RECEIVERSHIP
Contour, Inc., formerly a leading provider of POV cameras and accessories, has entered into receivership under approval by the Superior Court of Washington for King County.
Inverness Group, LLC, by and through its Managing Partner, John Davidson, has been appointed as Receiver. D.A. Davidson & Co has been engaged by the Receiver to help enable the sale of Contour assets through a competitive bid process within sale procedures to be established in the case.
“We look forward to facilitating a successful transaction in the best interests of Contour’s creditors and potentially enabling a future for the Contour brand,” said Nathan Pund, Managing Director at D.A. Davidson.
Founded in 2004, Contour grew to be one of the largest companies in its field with almost $30 million in annual revenue.
Contour abruptly shut its doors on August 2, 2013 after protracted negotiations with investors failed to produce a viable funding solution. Remaining assets at the company include an IP portfolio, customer lists and contracts, supplier contracts, accounts receivable and inventories, trademarks, and other assets. The assets will be sold “as is” free and clear of all liens and encumbrances, and the sale will be subject to an agreed Asset Purchase Agreement and final approval by the Court.
-ends-
Can no one stop GoPro’s dominance in the market? Do you have a Contour camera? Do you like it (we thought they were pretty good, although GoPro’s chest-mount is still probably the best bit of camera placement there is and no one has really come close to that.) It was one of the first cameras to come with GPS and with Bluetooth, so you can’t fault it for innovation. So, what went wrong? Comments welcome below.
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and the lesson is, have a good range of mounts.
To be fair, they had helmet sticky mounts and vent mounts (and goggle mounts?). I reckon it’s the chest mount that’s the clincher for GoPro. (Though Drift has a Robocop-style shoulder mount which looks interesting…)
It’s hard to say why they failed without knowing what they made per unit, and other costs involved, but the lack of a chest mount put me off…
ARG!
Me and a friend chipped in and bought one of the originals when it was the VholdR, or something. Customer service was first class and through a couple of minor incidents, each at the end of a warranty period, we ended up being continuously upgraded, ending up with a full 1080HD model. The sound recording was always pointless with nothing more than wooshing wind at anything above walking pace and like it says here, mounting it is a nightmare. Ours sits in a case unused as we’ve never really found a suitable mounting solution for the bike or anything but a full face helmet. Who can be bother with rolls of duct tape, sticky back velcro and padding before every ride? Sad to see them go, perhaps they should have listened to feedback a bit more and revamped the basic design rather than sticking to their guns so much.
“…through a couple of minor incidents, each at the end of a warranty period, we ended up being continuously upgraded”
Maybe this was part of the problem for them. Great customer service is not always compatible with making the most profit
Now you’ve said that, I feel singularly responsible. Sorry everyone.
I’ve had a Contour and a Gopro, the only thing the Contour missed was some kind of chest mount. With the flex mount you could fit it pretty much anywhere, much more versatile than the Gopro.
The big downside of the Contour was that they seemed a bit overpriced compared to the Gopro.
Shame for Contour – it looked a much better product than the GoPro but it’s hard to compete with that iconic and ubiquitous a brand.
What’s the deal with chest mounts anyway – they give the most god awful picture angle for MTBing? Are they more comfortable/easier to operate or do people actually like the view a chest cam gives and it’s me that’s weird?
As well as the mounting options Contour also lagged behind GoPro (particularly early on) with picture quality/frame rates/resolution. I had a GoPro (1) and my mate had an early Contour and when I was editing from both the raw Contour footage was significantly worse (and only 720p vs the Go Pro 1080p).
Speedy: you’re weird! 😉 Chest cam gives a better sense of speed than helmet because you have the bars as a reference point. It also looks better than helmet if there’s no one in front. Many (most?) people do tend to set their chest mounts up badly though in terms of angle resulting in too much floor. Best results are with the Go Pro mounted upside down as it can be aimed a lot better.