How Kodak Beat the Flip

Pure Digital's Flip may have started the pocket camcorder craze, but their cautious approach to improving the gadget let competitors, namely Kodak, fill the gaps. The Kodak Zi8 perfects the pocket camcorder formula and presents a challenge to Pure Digital's dominance, one they don't seem poised to defend.

Kodak Zi8

from $144.95

[Read our full Kodak Zi8 Review]

Pure Digital Flip UltraHD

from $159.95

[Read our full Flip UltraHD Review]

Pure Digital Flip Video MinoHD

from $159.00

[Read our full Flip MinoHD Review]

Though Pure Digital's Flip Video camcorders started the whole pocket camcorder craze, they've been beaten at their own game. The upstart manufacturer, recently acquired by Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), is being overtaken by brands like Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK), who have just about perfected the simple, affordable formula that made the Flip camcorders so popular. Unless Pure Digital can make a big move, and soon, this acquisition could be a potential disaster for Cisco, who'll be saddled with a once-mighty brand that's past its prime.

The new challengers are more versatile, more affordable, and offer higher-quality video. Most importantly, they're available right now, whereas a new Flip camcorder isn't expected for several months. If you're in the market for a pocket camcorder, don't be swayed by Flip's reputation. Take a serious look at the alternatives—bold, innovative new camcorders like the Kodak Zi8—before you make a decision.

In the end, it could be Pure Digital's obsession with simplicity that allows the competition to seize control. The desire to not complicate the Flip has made Pure Digital wary to add new features or allow users to exert any kind of significant control over the camcorder. Flip camcorders are locked into a single recording resolution. You cannot increase resolution for higher quality or decrease resolution to save memory. They are also stuck with non-removable, non-expandable memory. The Flip MinoHD can store one hour of video, the UltraHD can store two. Flip camcorders are also incapable of snapping still photographs, a feature that would be handy, and seems like a no-brainer to include on such a device. The idea of two separate modes or file types is anathema to Pure Digital. With the Flip camcorders, there is only one way to shoot video—Pure Digital's way—and there's nothing that can be done about it. The Flip camcorders are still rather expensive compared to their peers. The MinoHD has a manufacturer's suggest retail price of $229; the Ultra HD has an MSRP of $199 (though at present, after several months on the market, the price has come down. For up-to-date prices, check the right hand sidebar). It seems that even despite their relative youth, Pure Digital has become complacent.

The Kodak Zi8 demonstrates that it's possible to provide a more robust, more versatile feature set without complicating the device. Now that people are familiar with the idea of a pocket camcorder, they're more comfortable with new, additional features and the Zi8 provides. It's the first pocket camcorder to offer full 1080p high-definition video recording, though it can also record in 720p (at either 30 or 60 frames per second), and in widescreen, standard definition. It sports a 5-megapixel still image mode and perhaps most importantly, electronic image stabilization. The Zi8 is currently the only pocket camcorder with any kind of image stabilization. Even with its advantages over the Flip cameras, the Kodak Zi8 is actually less expensive, with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $149.

What's fascinating about all this is that Flip, the upstart brand that could do no wrong when it debuted, the brand that tapped into a market no one knew existed, is getting shown up on their own turf by Kodak, a brand that's done all it can to throw away its good reputation in the last few years. The Kodak Zi8 is the first worthwhile Kodak product in years, as their digital cameras have been one disappointing lemon after another, frustrating users and cheating them out of their money. The Zi8 could very well save Kodak from their long downward spiral into oblivion, and it could also doom the Flip to a similar decline. It depends on whether Pure Digital and their new owners at Cisco are able to adapt and evolve, or whether they cling to a blueprint that served them well in the past but may not be appropriate for the future.

Cisco's acquisition of Pure Digital has led many to speculate about the future of the Flip camcorders. The most common conclusion is that the next-generation Flip camcorders will have some sort of networking capability, perhaps wireless Internet, to better facilitate the uploading and sharing of videos. If true, it would be a major step forward for Flip, and would introduce an exciting new variable to the pocket camcorder competition. Even so, it's likely that aside from an increase in resolution and the possibility of Internet connectivity, the Flip formula won't change very much. Pure Digital has been very conservative in evolving the Flip. It's unclear whether they'll respond to the advancements made by the Zi8 or stick with simplicity: a single resolution mode; no still image mode; integrated memory storage. If history is any indication, they'll choose the latter, and it will still be more expensive than the competition.

Meanwhile, Kodak has already subtly announced that they'll have a new pocket camcorder at CES 2010 this coming January. Any new Flip camera won't be competing against the Zi8. It'll be competing against this new, phantom Kodak that already has a big head start. By then, perhaps they'll realize they're not the only game in town anymore. Hopefully, consumers figure that out even sooner.