EAT YOUR OWN: Why Innovation Doesn't Stop Just Because Something Is the Best...

Three (or four) words:  Flip Cam and iPhone.

I was (and am, I guess) a huge fan of the Flip Camera that was acquired a couple of years ago by Cisco.  Used it this weekend for the first time in a while.  Lightweight, easy to use and extremely portable, it made grabbing video an achievable goal for any person/family.  Gone were the days when you need a freaking camera bag and you looked like the predictable dork that was breaking out the VHS videocam for some family memories.

The Flip changed all of that.  Small camera in your pocket.  Push the red button for HD video that is "good enough".  The amount of video I took skyrocketed as a result.

Then I heard Cisco was going to stop selling and advancing the Flip.  I was outraged.

Then I got the iPhone 4.  Cisco's approach to the flip suddenly made sense.  The Flip wasn't going to survive.  The iPhone 4 WAS the Flip.  Of course, it was also a phone, a laptop, a still shot camera, etc.  Game over.  The only thing that would save it a bit is if people can't figure out how to tripod their iPhone.  At least the dorks who require a tripod.  

What are you doing to try and kill your company's best product, or to hire people who can kill it?  

If your people don't do it, someone else surely will.  That's a business case for skunkworks projects that aren't tied to the regular lines of business, who would see them as a threat and try to kill them like a new alpha Lion kills cubs who aren't his own.

I know, I'm a ray of sunshine today.  RIP, Flip.  I barely knew ya.

Comments

[patti wilson]

And we all remember a company called Kodak who invented, yes, the digital camera and then wouldn't sell it because it would eat up its film sales.

Their competitors did it for them. This is why stagnated management should eat themselves ;-)

[Joel Kimball, Fearless Leader]

...as I sit here, ready to upload the pictures of the site demo work I just took with my old KODAK DIGITAL CAMERA!

And lulz ensue.

The irony - it burns!

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