Goodbye Flip Video... Hello iPhone

[CoolBreeze]

Today Cisco announced that it will shut down its Flip Video division, essentially writing off a $600 million investment into the consumer video market that never really panned out. While Cisco’s execution in the consumer electronics space was certainly flawed, it’s hard to blame the networking giant for Flip Video’s demise.

Back in March 2009 when Cisco acquired Flip Video maker Pure Video Technologies, Flip Video cameras filled a huge gap in the low end of the consumer video market. With prices in the sub $200 range, decent video quality and easy downloading through a convenient USB dongle, Flip Video cameras were much less expensive than traditional consumer camcorders, and much easier to use.

But that all changed in September of 2009, when Apple released the iPhone 3GS, the first iPhone with the ability to record video. Over one million iPhone 3GSes were sold in the first weekend that the device was released. While neither Cisco nor Pure Video Technologies released official sales figures for the Flip Video camera, it’s likely that the installed base of the iPhone 3GS eclipsed the installed base of Flip Video cameras within a few months of its release.

More importantly, the iPhone 3GS filled the void in the consumer video market that Flip Video filled so nicely. The iPhone 3GS made it easy to not only record video and download video onto a PC, it also made it easy to email video or post videos online. In short, the iPhone 3GS made the Flip Video obsolete, eclipsing the compact video camera in terms of convenience and connectivity.

Cisco did release a higher quality version of its Mino Flip Video camera in 2010, but this was far too little, to late. Cisco also failed to add wireless capabilities to its Flip Video line, giving the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 a huge advantage in terms of video connectivity.

It appears that Flip Video was already doomed when Cisco acquired Pure Video Technologies in 2009. Flip Video was a stop gap solution for the low end of the consumer video camera market – and this stop gap solution became obsolete once video cameras became a common feature on smartphones.

http://www.wirelessgoodness.com/2011/04 ... eras-next/

[DJSHOCKLEY]

The all out sales blitz for the IPHONE that has crept its way thru all levels of media continues...