Earlier this month we reported that Cisco Systems had acquired Pure Digital Technologies, the makers of the popular Flip Video cameras. Today, Cisco officially announced the deal, which was for $590 million in stock. (We had the price at “north of $500 million).
Pure Digital will become part of Cisco’s consumer business group, which includes Linksys home routers and set-top boxes from its acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta. Cisco is calling the Flip cameras a new form of “visual networking,” whatever that means. In reality, the Flip is built for the YouTube generation. It is designed to take videos and immediately upload the to the Web. (Its output is a handy USB stick that flips open and plugs in directly to a computer). In other words, it is a device that encourages activities that consume a lot of bandwidth. As a networking company, Cisco wants you to use as much bandwidth as possible.
It is also looking for new growth markets across consumer devices, enterprise Web communication apps (like WebEx, Postpath, and Jabber), and even into enterprise servers and storage.
Pure Digital has raised $68 million over the past five years from Sequoia, Benchmark, Steamboat Ventures,and others.
hi
I think there is a little mistake in the title
Its more like..”Pure Digital” than “Pure figital”
G
no wait, maybe that’s a pun …
now that would original
I really hope that was intended, because it’s hilarious!
Freudian slip
I’m not getting this acquisition. Your point about video being a bandwidth hog and Cisco is in the bandwidth business is well taken, but there are a lot of potential acquisitions that are more direct bandwidth hogs than a video camera that uploads to the web. Is Cisco seeing something of value at Pure other than the Flip business?
It fits into its consumer device business, which is all about encouraging bandwith consumption. But it is also a wedge into a larger telepresence business down teh road. A nut Cisco has been trying to crack for years.
Great deal for both companies! Pure Digital is very innovative.
That’s awesome! Congrats to the Flip Digital team and Cisco =)
Nice purchase for Cisco. I can’t say whether they paid a fair price for it or not, but at least they knew enough to buy the best. I like what they’re doing so far. I hope they stick with only quality companies for all their acquisitions!
Yep, “pure Digital”
Interesting move from Cisco. They’re banking on the proliferation of high-def video in the consumer market, and hopefully they’ll give the Flip the economy of scale to get even lower in price. I can see a $100 HD Flip, and a $179 version with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the not-too-distant future. Woohoo. Get ready for some high-def cats on treadmills.
http://www.lifesize.com
Great News for Pure Figital
.. btw nice pun
Pure Figital ? “Cisco is calling the Flip cameras” – it shows up as Teh in RSS. Erick, what were you smoking ?
hey…
didn’t you guys/TC slam the flip phone in a product review awhile back!!
looks like the market might know a little more about what sells than TC!!
peace
That was last summer. We have officially flipped our position
(It was nominated for best gadget at this year’s Crunchies Awards).
on the biases of what ?
that kind of about turn is very suspicious…
regards
John Jones
This is great for Pure Digital, especially as its in Stock valuation. Cisco is one of the companies that seem to be sensible in terms of not overleveraging and generally being sane with business practices. Their stock has taken a massive hit with a 100% decrease on the 52 week high this puts the stock in a good path to grow over the next few years after the recession has hit the bottom. http://www.goog...finance?q=cisco
I love the flip cameras, lets now launch in the uk with custom printing on the cameras as well.
I hate to be this guy but if a stock takes a “100% decrease’ in it’s value, I can only assume Cisco is now bankrupt?
Much better described as a % value fallen from 52-week high based on entire stock value as for example; ‘has fallen over 40% since it’s 52-week high’
Schonfeld,
The ING sharebuilder online trading software just lost CitiGroup investors millions of dollars
http://finance....87512a95161e8a7
some of them were setting up triggers at $3.80 when the application crashed. It has reportedly been down for 45 minutes according to the group cited.
Another device to carry – dumb phone, iPod (or iPhone for both), laptop, PSP – how many electronic gadgets is enough? Apparently the world loves innovation. http://ce.tEarn.com Keep trucking.
Now, if we can shoot video, stream to Photosynth and integrate many bad streams into an interesting realtime stream… dream on
I think I like the move. Video conferencing + wifi + camera = Next Gen communications bundle.
Told ya.
Isn’t there a device out there that does this and more? I think it is called a smart phone. On top of that, I have yet to seen this device on the wild yet and my teenage sister hasn’t bothered me to buy one for her yet.
Figital isn’t a word. I don’t get it.
Congratulations Jonathan! They’ve just been executing quarter after quarter, delivering a great product to consumers.
The best part is Jonathan is always the brand, and always selling Flip Video cameras. Although maybe now they can finally can have the one click upload to Photobucket
I’m off to amazon to buy my HD flip..
The Flip is a great product. Period. I agree with rob (above), this could be part of the next generation communication bundle…
One day world will be fed up of too many gadgets influencing our lives. People will be just fed up. They will find solace in living in an offline world. Just be with them or their near and dear ones.
Seem like cisco is confused, they just said they are going to launch enterprise servers to compete with HP and IBM. This seems like a big thing to concentrate on, rather than getting in a consumer brand with zero margins and fierce competition. Now that every Laptop comes with a built in camera and sony, cannon and the rest have low end offering as well, why does Cisco need to get into this market? Their explanations are not convincing.
100% Agree. Stupid Move. Why not buy Apple ? Quicktime is also a big bandwidth hog (they have just to degrade the compression !!) Or maybe Divx .. or Skype ?
“Core Business” is not a town in China…
Hopefully Cisco will develop a usb/wall plug like the iPhone has for the darn thing. It’s very inconvenient to have to have your laptop to charge it!
Pure Figital – pun or typo? Does it matter?
… I love this little gadget! Great idea-
seriously what can I get cisco to buy ?
luckily I am not a CSCO shareholder
good luck to them and their $15 devices
regards
John Jones
Sequoia prints more money than the Fed. Damn these guys are good.
Visual Networking is not something not totally new technical term.. People say it all the time now.. It just referring to using video as a base to support the ideas and views of those that are networking and sharing info. Good stuff I use there flip camera “yes you can get video from a still camera” but the flip genius is its size portability and mainly its easy of use to upload videos to email or youtube. Mostly because the “Software” is in the flip video camera. Which is totally convenient as you never have to have a “CD” of software with you when you are at someone else’s computer trying to upload or share the video say with your grandmother or family while at their house. Its lightweight and super easy to upload with a couple of clicks. Do not judge the quality of the camera footage from Youtube as on the web its been severely compressed by youtubes site. Plug it into your TV and you will be surprised the at the quality compared to regular full sized camcorder. ITs pretty sharp and clear and colorful.
As for the USB being a pain as the charger come on now thats pretty convenient as most people have a computer around somewhere. If they dont get a USB wall charger for 10 bucks if you dont already have one for you ipod or iphone or 100 other usb chargeable toys you have.
It doesn’t work when you get a usb wall charger, for some reason it’s not compatible
This device is great. I recommend it to all my customers and for their wife and children. The Flip is very easy to use, uploading video in two steps including audio ad ins for family and viewers on youtube. My company uses the Flip for the last year plus to shoot easy instructions for cleaning your workstation or adding users to the domain among other things I prefer a customer do themselves instead of quick stops where I can stay with my larger offices for the day instead of running all over town for five minute jobs. I have also been in places where something takes place that should be on tape and then have used the evidence to help a company prosecute. As you can see I really cant say enough about this little toy/tool. I do not sell them I am just a happy customer.
Thanks for looking,
More on the topic of discussion, Cisco may use the software in the Flip to ad features to a camera line with easy uploads to an email or web accounts from a security device, be it blue tooth or wifi. The security camera market is huge right now with all the job loss, theft in my area and the surrounding cities is really up there. If Cisco came out with something based of this device for the average mom or dad to watch their kids from Linksys or Flip it would fly off the shelves.
Just my 2 cents
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Hmmm, $590 Million is no piece of cake. Awesome that TechCrunch reported this long ago. That shows you guys absolutely rock!
It was just a matter of time, the Flip is a great product. Also good to know that not all companies are broke like the auto gurus.
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We liked them so much we gave them an award (although the irony is they couldn’t make an acceptance video):
http://mediasna...2/ms-awards-09/
Never to late to espouse the power of educational video on the web. I invite you to see our posting:
http://blogs.or...deo-phenomenon/
MauroNewMedia has posted a new article on Pulse>UX titled: “Why Cisco flipped over the Flip Video Cam (and paid $590 million for a small dose of simplicity)”. Ever wonder how much simplicity costs? This post digs into Cisco’s acquisition of the Flip Video Cam (a paragon of simplicity) and why buying simplicity does not work for corporations with complex IT products. If you ever wondered if your company is actually capable of creating simple user experiences, check out our list of key factors that are correlated with creating simple products on a corporate-wide basis.