Flip Video 'the future of journalism': UK chief blasts Sony, hints at HD

By Rich Trenholm on 07 October 2008, 1:16pm

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So what's the future for Flip? The company, Sangster says, is "playing with technologies today that will come out sometime in 2010, 2011... but as we're looking at these technologies in our labs it comes down to the philosophy: keep it simple, keep it clean, let the user have an enjoyable, easy experience within a price range we want to play in. If we can't work within those parameters, we don't want to know...

"We don't want to be a £500 digital camcorder that's got 429 functions, of which only 5 or 6 are ever used. What it says on the box is what the product does. It's intuitive and it's simple to use, and you don't have to get the manual out and go to page 400, subsection 2. It does what we say it does, and that's it: we don't pretend to be anything else."

The next product release is expected in the US "shortly", with the UK three months behind. Sangster hinted high definition is on the way, but will stick to the established pattern: "when we bring our HD product it will run for the hour -- these products can film an hour, with four and a half or five hours battery life. Whether we're talking about the the Mino or the Ultra it'll be exactly the same." He's relaxed about competitors such as the Creative Vado or Kodak's hi-def Zi6, arguing they "validate the sector".

He went on to brand the Sony GC1 Net-Sharing Cam, Sony's attempt to get in on the action in 2007, "a disaster". The Japanese company "saw what Flip was doing and tried to rush a product out to get into the sector. It just died and disappeared," Sangster said. "I don't know where Sony went wrong... the sales of Ultra were going through the roof and continue to go through the roof."

If you've flipped out over the Flip, let us know. Is it the future of journalism or a toy for YouTubers?