Cisco announced today that it plans to shutter its Flip Cam unit — those very cool HD video cams that plug straight into your laptop — because its streamlining operations around its core networking products. The writing is on the wall: new smart phones are gobbling up the market, thanks to built-in video cameras and editing apps.
Flip was the first camera to make video truly shareable. Before, you needed the Geek Squad to figure out how to get video off your camera to YouTube. Flip made it simple.
My wife and I have used Flip Cams for years, covering news for our network of neighborhood blogs in Seattle — and we love them. We also own a higher-end Sony HD camcorder, but never use it. In covering breaking news, we didn’t have the time to download/render and snazzy it up on Final Cut Pro. Instead, we just plug our Flip Cam straight into a laptop, hack together something using Flip’s editing software, and upload it right to YouTube. We can turn stories several times faster.
Of course, we’ve found ourselves using our iPhones more often. The video quality isn’t quite the same, but it’s often “close enough.” And we can publish straight to YouTube without plugging it into a laptop. And that’s all that will matter.
Despite the fact Flip Cams are still the best-selling camcorder on Amazon, Cisco says it will stop producing them but continue to support the software. (Which makes us wonder, why don’t they just sell the unit off?) In the meantime, I’m tempted to scoop up a couple more cams before they disappear forever.
Update: A “Save the Flip Cam” Facebook page has popped up.
