Has the Flip Flopped?

When they first came out, I raved about how great a tool the Flip video cameras were. Two years ago, Cisco bought the company (then called Pure Digital) for $590 million and now they’re shutting it down.

I am, well, shocked … how did this happen? The Flip was everyone’s darling, it allowed people to carry a video camera with them everywhere. Sometimes taking it where you wouldn’t take a more expensive device. (I will admit to mounting one to the bumper of my car on a drive to work … just to see what it looked like. “Splattered bug guts” would be the best description of the resulting file.)

Well, Kodak’s Zi8 came along and sort of, er, flipped over the Flip – same price point, more functions (including a mic jack). And, as the story above says, smartphone cameras have gone video crazy so the market is drying up.

Still, someone has to be worried about recommending spending $590 million a few years ago …

(Thanks to everyone who tweeted this in the last 10 minutes – the barrage was led by Andy McFee.)