Will Flip Fight Back Against Apple, or is it too Late?

  By Tac Anderson | October 9, 2009 - 11:37 am | Biz

I love my 8 gig Flip UltraHD. Here at Waggener Edstrom we love our Flip cameras. Mashable even had a great guide today on Video Blogging. I think we’re about to see some even greater things in the world of video blogging.

Everyone got pretty exited when they thought Apple would integrate a camera into the iPod Touch. predicted the demise of the Flip. Apple decided not to release the iPod Touch with a camera. Many people believe that there was too much fear this would cannibalize their iPhone sales.

I believe Apple has given Flip a huge opportunity here. The question is, will they capitalize? Flip needs to revive their camera and software. Today the file format is hard to work with if you’re on a PC. The software doesn’t really do anything the iPhone doesn’t do native on the device.

If it were me I’d drop the price on all existing cameras, launch a new device with a full touch screen, build the editing software into the camera, make it wifi enabled and keep it at the $299 price.

But will it be enough? All Apple has to do is put a camera in the iPod Touch (something they’ll do eventually) and they already have an arguably better product, because it’s all that, a music player, game device and a bag of chips.

So maybe it’s already too late for Flip. What do you think?

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About Tac Anderson

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.
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  • http://twitter.com/michaelwillits Michael Willits

    “If it were me I’d drop the price on all existing cameras, launch a new device with a full touch screen, build the editing software into the camera, make it wifi enabled and keep it at the $299 price.”

    I agree re: dropping the price and adding wifi (yes!!), but including a touch screen and editing software I think may distract from the simplicity that is the Flip device itself. In Flip's case, keeping their product as simple as possible (and, sans touchscreen that much more durable) is their best defense against Apple. Both Apple and Flip can coexist in the same videoblogging world. If I were in a media dept. loaning video devices to students and faculty, I'd be MUCH more comfortable with the Flip device, plus the learning curve would remain small.

    But yes, lower the price, make editing on a PC easier, and add wifi (preferably configurable to the video service of your choice).

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    Yeah, I had to think really hard about that one before including that. My thinking was that, with the wifi, you would want to be able to upload videos directly from the device and that if you could add even minor editing capabilities that would make it much easier and convenient. But you're right you would sacrifice simplicity and durability. But that's why I suggested keeping the existing devices still in the mix.

    Bottom line Flip needs to do something and no option is going to be ideal.

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