Flipped Off

The latest One Minute Podcast from the Great Lakes Geek talks about the end of the Flip camera.


I always liked the Flip Camera. My sister had one and it fit in a pocket, had that one easy button to push and produced quality video. I also liked the built-in USB connector.

I didn’t own a Flip because I take a lot of video (last YouTube count is at 935 videos posted) and I need more storage than the Flip had.

It always seems odd to me that Cisco, the company behind the plumbing of the Internet, bought this niche business from Pure Digital for $590 million. Cisco’s earnings fell 18% in the 2nd quarter of 2011 and the Flip wasn’t really a growth product so I can see why Chambers didn’t want the brand anymore. But why not sell it?

It would have to be updated though. The iPod Nano got a camera in 2009 and Apple clearly targeted the Flip. Now most smart phones and devices have a camera for stills and video so the question is why buy a single use product when you have that functionality in a device you already own and carry?

Consider how younger people use the camera on their phones. They shoot and immediately post the photos to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or other social media or send to their friend’s devices. You can’t do that with a Flip which has no Internet connectivity.

Cisco tried a high-end Flip but it sold for $230 and was, again, single purpose.

I just wish Cisco had sold the Flip line to a company that would upgrade it with Wi-Fi, more storage and lots of photo/video specific apps instead of killing the line.

That’s what has me Flipped Off.