No flip flopping here – Cisco has decided to stop making their popular line of pocket-sized Flip camcorders. While this may have come as a surprise to fans of the Flip, Cisco made a wise decision since there are now so many other devices that include video recording with their other functions. Good news, though! If you have dreams of becoming a YouTube legend, you’ll be able to pick up one of these cameras at a great deal.
What makes the Flip fun
Though Cisco is going to stop making the Flip, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad device. In fact, it’s a fun little camcorder that you can toss in your pocket for on-the-go video capture and its flip-out USB connection lets you load your vids onto any computer. The Flip UltraHD camcorder is the most well-known of their three video recorder lines because of its affordability and easy-to-use features.
The 8GB UltraHD Flip can store about two hours of 720p HD video, and the newest versions come with image stabilization. Add one of their waterproof cases, and you’re ready to capture video just about anywhere. An added bonus is that the price of the Flip will start dropping as stores try to sell off the end of their supply.
Where the Flip flopped
A lot of people are pointing out that camera-equipped smartphones are what killed the Flip. I think that’s partially true, but their real problem was that the Flip didn’t up their game. Two things they should’ve done differently were: maintain higher quality than smartphone cameras and tap into the power of social media.
The Flip’s advantage is that you get good video quality in a device that is literally small enough to fit in your pocket. Once smartphones got cameras of the same quality, people preferred to carry around just the one device. However, if you already fill up your phone’s memory, then it’s handy to have a separate device just for videos.
Social media was the other area the Flip missed out on. If they’d managed to sell a Flip that had the ability to connect to WiFi and immediately upload videos to an online social network, then they might have lasted longer. Instead, people prefer devices like the iPod Touch and smartphones because they can upload on-the-go.
~Krista “totally not Flipping out over this” Jackson
