here I found this: http://www.erstespur.de/viewtopic.php?t=3742

rumours are telling the board does not come voile-equipped!

maybe we know more after the ispo at Munich/GER (worlds greatest international sports fair) end of january.

@Mumbles wrote:

The shop staff that I spoke with thought it came fully equipped, …

as far as I know the board comes fully equipped – but not with voile-parts. it seems that atomic developed their own binding system … that increases curiosity! 😕

I’ve heard from a very reliable source that yes Atomic is going into the splitboard biz with their own interface. I find it interesting as how they are going to not infringe on Voile’s patent. The yin yang hooks, and nose/tail clips are pretty hard to make unique imo. Then again who knows, they may have come up with something that has been under our noses the whole time.

More info on the product should hit during or right after SIA in two weeks.

i had an atomic solid a few years ago, it was a great board. i will probably buy another some day (after i get a few more never summers 😉 ). i would definitely be interested in a split.

@Jogi wrote:

– own split/hook/slider-system
– can only be used with the delivered complete binding!!!
– tail = tip in ski mode

Am I the only one that is concerned how this is all going to shake down???

As much as I’m excited to see another company enter the splitboard market it also has the potential to hurt the sport if they miss the mark. Back when Burton designed their own interface the sport was young. Now the sport is older and a botched design could take us backwards.

Here are the things that concern me…

An interface that requires you use their binding. This isn’t a bad thing if they totally nailed the design but otherwise if they didn’t, it could backfire and render the system useless. This would mean that Atomic would lose money on their investment which could have a negative effect on the growth of the sport.

On the tail = tip thing, this also concerns me. As I stated in another post above, unless the tail height is higher than the tip height (which wouldn’t make any sense) it doesn’t sound like a good design. Just like on the descent, adequate tip height is critical on the ascent as well. Especially when breaking trail in deep powder. If they miss the mark again on this design philosophy, Atomic will either have a lot of angry customers of a lot of angry dealers with boards they cant sell.

I guess the other things that baffles me is how much research and consultation Atomic has done or appears to haven’t done. Who were there designers and consultants? Did they consult the US and Euro market? I feel pretty confident that they’ve been reading our pages here but why not take it a step further and contact us to help make sure their design will succeed. Do they have the combined experience and knowledge that this site and members can provide?

Sorry to be so doom and gloom, these are just my thoughts. I wish Atomic all the best………….I just hope they don’t botch it.

I did a patent and patent application search for snowboard inventions assigned to Atomic and I found nothing splitboard related. Is this thing really gonna be for sale in the US? I can’t imagine Voile would be that stoked on it because it seems like a patent infringement. Still – best to see how it shakes out. It could be a great innovation, I suppose. If it sucks, it prolly won’t be around for long. Voile has spent a long time building this market – I would be suprised if Atomic could make much impact with a lousy product in one year. I doubt retailers would take a risk on a whole new system unless it is clearly better or unless Atomic has enough juice to force retailers to carry it as part of their lineup of Atomic products.

@Mumbles wrote:

The one thing he said when I talked patent and voile was that his source said that Atomic is part of the Amersports conglomerate, which is huge, has high powered attorneys and said bring it on with regard to patent infringement.

Wow – that’s gnarly. Well might does make right in the court of law so I hope Voile has a warchest. But Burton has paid licensing so that’s probably an advantage to Voile if they can ever get around to fighting it. I had no idea the splitboard market was so lucrative.

@InTheMountains wrote:

That’s not gnarly, that’s some ski/snowboard tech talkin’ shit, bfd

Yeah – excellent point, but if they are planning on selling splitboards in the US they either have licensed the technology from Voile or they are planning to challenge/infringe. Or maybe their technology is so novel it doesn’t require a license, but that doesn’t seem like the case since Atomic haven’t file a patent application.

I think it’s too early to make assumptions about whether they are infringing or not. From what little info is available, it’s clear they are planning something very different from what’s been put out there in the past. Maybe it’ll be great, and completely new, maybe not. We’ll see soon enough (hopefully at the OR show next week! 🙂 )

Shep