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The Tragic Death of the Flip

pogue.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#31

Post by Terretta »

eli wrote: post #17
tomsaffell wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FlipLive is kinda awesome, but as you said... when you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot ... Personally, I cannot think of too many occasions where the average person is: 1)in range of wifi, 2) has something worth sharing with an audience who are available there and then, 3) wouldnt rather use Skype video conferencing so as to get two-way communications. There are a few, but I'm not sure there's enough.

Forget about live, I'd buy a flip that had the ability to automatically upload its videos whenever it's in a hotspot and save to card when it isn't.

Your prayers have been answered -- Eye-Fi SD cards do just that. Stick one in a digicam, and you're good to go.

http://www.eye.fi/products/mobilex2

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#32

Post by bediger »

GuoQiangBen wrote: post #11
bediger wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you a "cam girl"?

haha rereading my post I guess that would be my first thought too - I actually do some recording of events for my university. And its a real bitch trying to get the equipment functioning, a plug and play like option would be ideal

Then it was worth the demerits! Thanks for having a sense of humor, unlike those bluenose downvoters.

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#33

Post by zacharycohn »

crystalis wrote: post #23
joebananas wrote: post #21

I don't see what's so tragic about the death of a consumer device that don't really sell.

Do you also think we'd be better off without the many van Gogh paintings that didn't sell during his lifetime?

Terrible argument - Flip cameras aren't suddenly going to become valuable in 200 years. Or 50. Or 2.

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#34

Post by anigbrowl »

bpeebles wrote: post #8
timmaah wrote: post #3

If the FlipLive was to debut yesterday, certainly there was inventory to back that up. What kind of lead time does production of that have? How much extra $$ did cisco blow by killing an in production product the day before it launches?

The initial reports said "Cisco said the shutdown of Flip will result in restructuring charges of up to $300 million this fiscal year". See http://www.industryweek.com/articles/cisco_closing_flip_busi... for example. I assume that might include the money to stop production/get rid of inventory they don't want to sell/whatever.

There is something very shady about the whole thing. I have worked in video (production) for most of the last decade and the flip was the hottest thing to hit camcorders since the invention of mini-DV. Phones and digicams also do video, but do not compare well for a variety of reasons. Flip hit a certain sweet spot that other products do not, and was poised to continue capitalizing on it.

You pull the plug on a product when you start losing money on it, not because you can see marginal net going to zero several years in the future. I would very much like to know the inside scoop on this one.

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#36

Post by fletchowns »

eyeareque wrote: post #18
hammock wrote: post #5

There’s a second part of the tragedy, too, something that nobody knows. That new Flip that the product manager showed me was astonishing. It was called FlipLive, and it added one powerful new feature to the standard Flip: live broadcasting to the Internet. That is, when you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the entire world can see what you’re filming. You can post a link to Twitter or Facebook, or send an e-mail link to frien…

While that is nice, couldn't (and isn't) this possible on any smart phone with 3G/4G and a video camera?

http://ustream.com also has an app that can do this

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#37

Post by tomsaffell »

riverlaw wrote: post #24
tomsaffell wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was never any risk of v1 of FlipLive cannibalizing the teleconferencing business - it was one-way only - no way for the 'viewers' to send a stream back to the publisher's camera. BTW - I wrote some of web software (the ActionScript) for FlipLive.

can you explain some of the thinking behind the flip slide? It was bigger and didn't add much function. Thanks

I didnt work on that project. I was a contractor, so pretty much only saw the stuff I worked on.

Re: The Tragic Death of the Flip

#39

Post by justin »

eyeareque wrote: post #18
hammock wrote: post #5

There’s a second part of the tragedy, too, something that nobody knows. That new Flip that the product manager showed me was astonishing. It was called FlipLive, and it added one powerful new feature to the standard Flip: live broadcasting to the Internet. That is, when you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, the entire world can see what you’re filming. You can post a link to Twitter or Facebook, or send an e-mail link to frien…

While that is nice, couldn't (and isn't) this possible on any smart phone with 3G/4G and a video camera?

Justin.tv has an app that can do this
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