The Japanese dominate video camera sales and for years the Taiwanese have sought to undercut Nippon’s brand game. But Pure Digital Technologies, an 80-employee company behind the popular Flip Video camcorder, somehow has managed to trump those Chinese rivals (and tick off the Japanese brands) by successfully branding a cheap digital video camera.
Nearly 1 million Flips sold in USA since the digital camcorder's May 2007, in a cutthroat market dominated by Sony), Flip starts pricing at $120 vs. an average $314. That’s one out of every 6 million camcorders shipped to American retailers in 2007-- in less than a year from launch! Only 4 months after its first release (so in Sept. ’07), Flip began selling the smaller Flip Video Ultra in 20,000 stores, including Wal-Mart, Costco, and Best Buy ($150 for 30-minute version in basic white or black, and $180 for the 60-minute one in orange and pink). Some camera colors are exclusive to specific retailers as part of the retail partner deal.
CEO Jonathan Kaplan says revenues jumped 300% in 2007. Though he doesn't disclose sales figures as a private company, we can tell you Kaplan secured US $40 million in funding last year: investment bankers like his “sell-video-like-popcorn” strategy in a YouTube era. Pure Digital began in 2001 as a maker of throwaway digital cameras sold in drugstores that required users to have their images processed on the premises (or at a designated digital-photo lab).
Designers of Flip had to strip away all control buttons from a typical camcorder and stick with only essentials. No slots for extra memory cards just internal storage from a half hour to an hour, depending on the model. No multiple controls, just a simple series of buttons. No CDs, just built-in software (compatible with Macs) that loads instantly each time the device is plugged into a pc.
No chargers, just cheap AA batteries to power the Flip. No messy cables, just a flip-out USB key (concealed in the plastic case until you press a button, like BMW keys.)
Thanks to Pure Digital, you could now afford to video all those hundreds of Chinese suppliers gnashing their teeth instead of just having to listen to them lament their failure with their own video camera brands.
What’s that famous Hollywood ad for Alien? “In space, no one can hear you scream…”
