Kassblog

“Cisco has to do things fast. Selling Flip could take too much time.”
– Brent Bracelin, Pacific Crest Securities (source)

Perhaps that explains why a beloved consumer and classroom device is being terminated by Cisco Systems, which bought Flip in 2009. Our school must own 30 Flip video cameras, between a loaner box in IT and individual cameras scattered about teacher offices. We will still see them for years, likely. Nothing is simpler than a big red button to capture video.

Cisco is not doing such a good job of reputation management in schools. First, institutions that use Cisco Clean Access associate the Cisco logo with blocking them from the network. Now, Cisco has terminated a much-used school device.

We were planning to purchase another box of Flip cameras this summer. What will replace them? We could spend more and get a box of iPod Touches instead. They shoot decent video and could also do so much more. However, we would lose the simplicity of dedicated devices and would have to manage a pile of connection cables.

Preferably, another small video camera company will emerge as a decent replacement, or by some change of fortune, Flip will find a way to stick around.