Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

senthilnayagam wrote: post #3

I own 2 flips and I love the simplicity, I share it with my kids and extended family for all occassions. Cisco is positioning itself as enterprise networking company. They should not kill the Flip business, selling it is a good option.

As the article says: "In a world where consumers can now record and stream video directly from their iPhone, Android or BlackBerry phone, Flip’s video camera business is no longer novel or useful."

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#5

Post by savrajsingh » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:04 PM UTC

Wow, flip appeared and disappeared fast. I wonder how the camcorder makers feel.

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#6

Post by jrockway » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:06 PM UTC

I guess Cisco realized that they couldn't sell licensing entitlements to consumers. "If you can afford it, it's not Cisco."

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#7

Post by daniel_reetz » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:14 PM UTC

Imagine if they had bothered to put an ethernet jack on it, or wifi in it, or made it time-lapse capable out of the box. Or made the whole thing USB-stick-sized. There are so many things you can do with cheap cameras that you can't do with an expensive camera phone - the problem here is a total lack of vision.

(and yeah, I'm aware of IP cams, and their wretched ActiveX-only interfaces, and their price range, and they don't fill the spaces I'm talking about).

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#8

Post by bennesvig » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:14 PM UTC

Are there any alternatives that let you custom design the camera?

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#9

Post by krschultz » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:14 PM UTC

I really think the GoPro killed them. If I want good quality video, I need something better than a Flip. If I need a durable, small, device for getting some OK video, I'll get a goPro. If I need OK video quality and don't care about durability, I'll use my smart phone.

When I'm out skiing, I see half the teenagers with GoPro's mounted on their helmets, their ski poles, chest harnesses etc video taping each other hitting jumps to put it up on youtube. When I'm at a car race, half the guys have GoPro's mounted on their rollcage. Flip just kind of missed the niche.

Re: Cisco To Shut Down Flip Video Business; Will Give Pink Slips To 550 Employees

#10

Post by brown9-2 » Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 1:15 PM UTC

I wonder if the executives who spent $590 million on Pure Digital will also get a pink slip?