Bye-bye Flip camera
My, how fast the market changes. Just a few years ago, the Flip camera was a blockbuster seller and a bit of a revolutionary.
It represented easy video recording on the go. And it was relatively cheap and practically idiot-proof to use. But alas, the smartphone wave seems to be sweeping the Flip away.
With more and more consumers shooting HD video with their iPhones, Androids and BlackBerrys, who needs a Flip?
Today, Cisco announced that it will be shutting down its Flip camera business and The Flip camera and laying off about 550 employees.
Cisco bet big on Flip barely two years ago, buying its maker, Pure Digital, for $590 million.
It's too bad they didn't find a way to make the technology work for them and for the consumer, but it's also a sign that people are increasingly using one device -- mobile phones -- for a lot of their digital media creation uses.
Personally, I used a Flip several years ago, when they first came out and it was okay. But, smartphones (or even an iPod Touch) now are generally equal, if not better, and more functional.
Will you miss the Flip?
Update: Random thought-- Why the heck didn't Cisco ever build some network connectivity into the Flip?! I don't follow Cisco closely, but when I first heard the news 2 years ago that it was buying Flip, I thought: Cool. Here come the networked cameras. But they were never Wi-Fi or 3G enabled. What's the story behind that?
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Comments
My wife loves our Flip. She uses it all the time to shoot videos of our daughter. That said, there is no reason to upgrade it unless it breaks.
Posted by: Stefan | April 12, 2011 2:10 PM
I agree... I began using a Flip 3 years ago, but have found myself grabbing for my iPhone recently while the Flip catches dust. HOWEVER, at school, we have a fleet of Flips that are PERFECT for Middle School girls. Hopefully Kodak will keep making the Zi8 cameras!
Posted by: Diana Gross | April 12, 2011 2:18 PM
"HOWEVER, at school, we have a fleet of Flips that are PERFECT for Middle School girls."
Creepy.
Posted by: Chester | April 12, 2011 2:57 PM
Our seven year old daughter absolutely loves hers and uses it many times every week. She is, of course, too young for a phone of any sort, let alone a smart phone.
What I like about the Flip is it's easy to use and has some ergonomic sense. So it gets used. What I am afraid of is VPs will catch wind of the fact kids are the perfect target for something like the Flip, and the only future iterations will be deliberately styled to attract kids' attention on store shelves- grossly colored with exaggerated ornamentation and body contours, and the tech quality will probably drop through the floor too.
It seems businesses don't think it's a viable risk to sell electronics exclusively marketed to kids that look normal, they have to look like toys. so I suspect future kids for whom the old flip would have been perfect, will have to put up with junk or convince their parents to pony up more serious money for a camera that shoots decent, comparable video.
Posted by: mike | April 12, 2011 3:46 PM
Tech advancements wait for nobody. The flip and most point and shoot cameras will be obsolete with the advance of the smart phone.
Posted by: headshots | April 12, 2011 4:48 PM
Flip had no unique technology and no barriers to entry for competitors. They had a brand name, and a minor one at that, and Cisco paid almost $600 million for it, using other people’s money. How could they not have seen that video capture could be easily added to phones, at a small cost, and nobody needed to buy a device that wasn’t a better camera
Posted by: Atlanta Roofing | April 13, 2011 2:22 AM
Flip had no unique technology and no barriers to entry for competitors. They had a brand name, and a minor one at that, and Cisco paid almost $600 million for it, using other people’s money. How could they not have seen that video capture could be easily added to phones, at a small cost, and nobody needed to buy a device that wasn’t a better camera
Posted by: Atlanta Roofing | April 13, 2011 2:24 AM
suspect future kids for whom the old flip would have been perfect, will have to put up with junk or convince their parents to pony up more serious money for a camera that shoots decent, comparable video.
Posted by: jb007 | April 13, 2011 8:22 AM
Here's a problem nobody thought about.
If you happen to film something that "the authorities"--the police, the military, the toxic waste dumpers, the drug dealers, etc.--don't want publicly disseminated, if the confiscate or smash your Flip camera, you're out maybe $150 or so.
If they grab your "smart phone" that you've been videoing them with, they've got something that costs double or triple to replace, PLUS your photos, your contact list, your phone number, and all kinds of ways to harass you.
Not to be any kind of conspiracy wacko, but these Flip phones are seriously our best shot at holding governments accountable for their actions. Imagine if there had been such cameras about during various unseemly events like Kristallnacht or massacres in Bosnia, Rwanda, or Iraq.....
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | April 13, 2011 8:29 AM
The Flip is a wonderful product for school use and circulation at a library. For students doing school video projects, I would never want them to borrow a SmartPhone or iPad.
Cisco clearly did not understand the value of the Flip, or how to market this product. Isn't there someone who can save it?
Posted by: Kate Todd | April 13, 2011 12:08 PM
Regarding your "Update" query: Cisco was developing a Flip called FlipLive that enabled you to broadcast directly to the web from a Wi-Fi spot. It was apparently about to be introduced before Cisco pulled the plug.
Posted by: RomanTotale3d | April 18, 2011 2:56 PM