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Contour Going out of Business?

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FigNewton
Posts: 2459 - Karma: 5,783
Saw this on pinkbike. +k to any one who knows anything.
Aug 7 2013 12:34AM
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leonus
Posts: 101 - Karma: -7
not a huge surprise honestly. GoPro is tucking killing the pov game.
Aug 7 2013 12:43AM
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stupendous-man
Posts: 8637 - Karma: 13,293
Yeah not a huge surprise really, gopro has done damn good job advertising their product and it shows in their sales. They are becoming so popular that i have found various mounts for them at Goodwill. Contour have always been sort of the underdogs, and when Sony came out with their action cam it probably pushed countour even farther down the hole, as it sold better because of the brands reputation.
Aug 7 2013 1:15AM
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-SnowSnoli-
Posts: 756 - Karma: 1,703
NOOOOOOOO... the world will be full of teletubbies now...

but head means beable to pick up a cheap contour +2
Aug 7 2013 1:32AM
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Karma_Police
Posts: 2655 - Karma: 1,628
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I was planning on getting a contour this winter. Gopros suck, the ergonomics are shit in comparison to the contour, at least for our sport.
Aug 7 2013 1:49AM
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50Kal
Posts: 2828 - Karma: 5,373
I would hope so.
Aug 7 2013 3:39AM
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Joerga
Posts: 426 - Karma: 3,736
A german MTB site telephoned with contour and they replied that it is right that a lot of employees were fired but not all. Contour will continue developing and selling new products according to this site.
Source (german): http://www.mtb-news.de/news/2013/08/07/helmkamerahersteller-contour-hat-geschaeftsbetrieb-eingestellt/
Aug 7 2013 7:47AM
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565
Gotta love some pinkbike user's comment - "Great, now go pro is basically a monopoly, start expecting $1000 Go-Pro "Emeralds" until they get some competition!"
Aug 7 2013 8:07AM
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Joerga
Posts: 426 - Karma: 3,736
The news was really suprising to me because I epected that Contour will sell a lot more cameras than last year because (subjectiv) there were a lot of complaints and problems with the new GoPro HD Hero 3.
It would really suck if there's no real competitor to GoPro.
Aug 7 2013 8:41AM
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565
^ to be honest if you look at the figures in the link bike write up, Contour wasn't a major competitor.
Aug 7 2013 9:05AM
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GrahamGould
Posts: 713 - Karma: 2,439
That would suck to see contour go out of business. I guess I just gotta get one before its too late
Aug 7 2013 9:58AM
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tdollo
Posts: 3771 - Karma: 18,546
Didnt they just announce a new "rookie video contest" that will be taking place during the Toyota One Hit Wonder? Just saw a fcebook vid about it
Aug 7 2013 10:35AM
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.MASSHOLE.
Posts: 7481 - Karma: 11,497
I bet they get bought out by a larger company and resurrected. If not, better got a contour asap. My gopro is meh. I hate the teletubby look
Aug 7 2013 11:04AM
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Miomo
Posts: 4302 - Karma: 14,133
Sure, but it was the biggest, and pretty much the only competitor. If GoPro fucked up hard, people would be there to get Contours. Now if that happens, GoPro keeps it's customers or they don't buy anything.
Aug 7 2013 12:37PM
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565
True. It will be interesting to see what Sony do following this.
Aug 7 2013 12:46PM
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Pancake_Fucker
Posts: 1843 - Karma: 1,917
Just tape a video camera to your head you fanboys.
Aug 7 2013 12:52PM
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e~b
Posts: 861 - Karma: 2,735
i personally like drift cameras better than gopros, but i feel like drift will have the same fate as contour
Aug 7 2013 12:58PM
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coolflash8
Posts: 3171 - Karma: 2,048
the fact i havent heard of this brand reinforces your point
Aug 7 2013 1:06PM
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e~b
Posts: 861 - Karma: 2,735
gopro has put so much money into advertising it is starting to pay off, as these other camera companies are not advertising as much.
Aug 7 2013 1:10PM
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VD.
Posts: 4054 - Karma: 4,565
So true, most kids at my school know what a GoPro is, but if you said Contour or Drift they wouldn't even have the slightest idea what they were. I remember having a conversation with someone about GoPros, where I said I didn't rate mine that much and I'd look into other brands, and they just wouldn't have it. 

I also frequently hear people say I'm going to get a GoPro because they're 'cool' when they don't ski/bike/surf etc.
Aug 8 2013 8:17AM
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-SnowSnoli-
Posts: 756 - Karma: 1,703
Well hopefully the german website was right and they were just downsizing. Sure people with get of the gopro hype train soon.

Quite like the look of the new Replay XD  or the Sony both look very clean and compact.
Aug 8 2013 10:01AM
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fortyvalve
Posts: 1442 - Karma: 1,573
Wasn't there something on here about Contour demos and setups in stores with footage playing using footage from a gopro? honestly not surprised by this news, gopro is huge
Aug 8 2013 11:25AM
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Karma_Police
Posts: 2655 - Karma: 1,628
More to his point Go Pro has probably top 3 billboard spots as you enter San Francisco. We're a huge outdoor city and all these city kooks think they need one. They ALWAYS have the best spots and the sickest screen shots. I think there is some dope ass pillow line up right now. So much ROI from that thing single billboard. I'd assume it's really expensive to put your add there since I've only seen apple and go pro...

That gives you an idea of how much they're advertising.


Aug 11 2013 11:59AM
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Bozite
Posts: 981 - Karma: 561
Contour had a good run but it is difficult to compete with go pro since every gaper has one. And they advertise a shit load on tv
Aug 11 2013 4:54PM
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Pipe_Munky
Posts: 10888 - Karma: 2,184
i'm still not 100% sure about the validity of this. all this article is saying, is that contour has closed its seattle based head office.

as far as i've researched, there has beem no official statement from contour officials. this could be as simple as a restructuring move.
Aug 12 2013 9:08AM
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50Kal
Posts: 2828 - Karma: 5,373
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brierdudley/2013/08/07/seattle-camera-maker-contour-shuttered-apparently/
Aug 12 2013 12:05PM
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Jarle
Posts: 278 - Karma: 321
They're not going out of business, they're getting new investors. The stop in business was required during the change of investors and banks :)
Aug 14 2013 3:16PM
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artrud
Posts: 598 - Karma: 1,471
looks like they're back now

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/contour-returns-to-pov-camera-market-2014.html
Apr 4 2014 4:44PM
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