How The iPhone Killed The Flip Video Camera
April 13, 2011
Cisco announced today it was killing its Flip Video business and in the process laying off 550 employees. This news comes two years after the company purchased Pure Digital Technologies in a $590 million acquisition in March 2009.
The Flip Video, which debuted in 2006 as the reusable “Pure Digital Point & Shoot” device sold at CVS/Pharmacy, made it easy to take HD quality video recordings using a simple (and light) device.
Unfortunately, the advent of smartphones such as the iPhone almost certainly led to the Flip Video’s demise.
The iPhone makes it easy to take video without the need of a separate device. In addition, thanks to the ever-growing number of video-taking apps now available including Vimeo, IncrediBooth, and Viddy, video sharing is also easier too.
According to a statement from Cisco CEO John Chambers:
“We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support of our network-centric platform strategy…As we move forward, our consumer efforts will focus on how we help our enterprise and service provider customers optimize and expand their offerings for consumers, and help ensure the network’s ability to deliver on those offerings.”This essentially means Cisco is going out of the consumer related business, focusing instead on its bread and butter:, enterprise customers. Current Flip Video models, which are still being sold, include the UltraHD, the MinoHD, and the SlideHD. What do you think? Leave your comments below.
