It’s a bit of odd timing that Pure Digital decided to rebadge its Point and Shoot camcorder Flip Video when a next-generation offering from RCA that supports a flip-out screen and memory card expansion will be available soon. However, I saw the (blister, grrr) packaging today and it’s pretty clever. Not only does the bulbous design imitate that of the camcorder itself., but the back enables you to power it on and play a short promotional video after which you can see what its like to use the small LCD. I would have suggested that the badge on the front alerting buyers to the interactive back be larger and that the buttons be labelled or accompanies by a sticker on the back to make it easier for unfamiliar buyers to find the power and play buttons (as play looks similar to delete).
The big guys are focused on HD, but Flip Video is a very fun product. Casual users love it. As I mentioned briefly when I posted about the Canon PowerShot TX, ther are a lot of places Pure Digital can take the product. It would be great to see two hours of HD, a larger LCD and maybe 5x optical zoon at a $500 price point rounding out the top-end.
Update: Turns out that Flip Video is not just a rebranding. According to Pure Digital, the video quality has been improved and there have been some other improvements. The 30-minute version in white s $119 and the 60-minute version, available in white and now black, is $149. There’s some cool stuff up these guys’ sleeves.