We have been hearing stories about Contour making a comeback after it closed down last year. The company was actually bought by one of their early investors, Clarke Capital Partners for US$1.95 million. We thought that the investors would chop up the assets of the company such as intellectual property and hardware to interested companies and give them a return bigger than what they paid for.

The stories were true.

What the new owners did was to move Contour to their location, which is Provo, Utah and planned to improve finances and worldwide distribution. Previously the founders of Contour decided to close the business after finding that the future of the company is bleak given that it wasn't able to improve its position vis-à-vis market leader in the action camera market, GoPro.

With the re-opening of the company, a new website is now up and their existing cameras now to be put back into circulation to various distributors and resellers which perhaps will be their old distribution network. Also in the works will be new and improved POV/Action Cameras that hopefully would get released later this year.

Contour introduced some innovations in the action camera market, such as the Wifi enabled cameras that can transmit video to mobile devices, and the GPS feature which proved useful. Its competitors, including GoPro, played catch-up in the innovation area, though for Contour these innovations were not translated into an increase in market share for the company.

The action camera market has been getting crowded lately, with big name electronics companies from Japan, such as Sony, JVC, and Panasonic coming out with their offerings for this market. For action camera users, like airsoft players, they welcome such competition as it will put pressure into pricing, companies improving features, and more action  cameras to choose from.

Contour actually has a good foothold in the airsoft market, as its design makes it easily mountable on tactical gear and airsoft guns. As it is sleek, it can be mounted in different ways on the helmet, as compared to the GoPro which needs a headstrap or special mounts to be used with NVG mounts. There are also rail mounts from third party providers for mounting these on airsoft guns, including lens shields.

Now we look forward to the company doing better this year as they take back market share and introduce new products.

Welcome back Contour!