Dang, it! This is allegedly a story about a product success, now not a product failure. Pure Digital created the low-quit, exceptionally portable video digicam market a few years again, after which they were sold out for a 1/2 a thousand million U.S. Dollars via the networking large Cisco. Cisco is filled with smart, brilliant product managers who have been able to raise this successful product into outer space. But they didn’t, and now the Flip video digicam goes away; what passed off?
Why I Loved The Flip Video Camera
So I’m willing to ‘fess up—I have a Flip video digicam. In reality, I fell in love with this product so much that I bought one early on when Pure Digital still owned it. However, after glancing around in my pocket, the display screen failed. I got a Kodak Zi8 to update the element because the Zi8 had a function that the Flip never did—a jack that allowed it to use an external microphone.
I saved my eye at the Flip over the years because I changed none, the less seduced by its small size. In no way once more should we offer one virtually as it seemed to change. The Flip being supplied today seems similar to the Flip I provided several years ago. Sure, they have a pop-out with an HD model and some quiet “skins” that help you customize it, but that seems to be approximately it.
What Went Wrong Between Cisco And The Flip
Cisco is a smart organization. They hire smart product managers. Something went wrong right here. Brian Chen and Chunka Mui have taken a near examination of what took place here, and it’s now not quite. It appears as though the purpose that the Flip product line didn’t properly control Cisco because of preventable sets of situations: the Flip became a horrific purchase choice for Cisco. Then Cisco did a negative activity of dealing with the product after they had it. The product line might have been capable of telling the tale of any such errors, but it couldn’t overcome them.
The Wrong Decision
Cisco should no longer have bought the Flip product line. Sure, at the time, it was regarded as a good idea. Cisco’s John Chambers announced that Cisco changed into buying Pure Digital to sell products that would create content that might drive the desire for bigger networks—Cisco’s center commercial enterprise.
However, what was overlooked in all the sparkling press releases was that Cisco bought Pure Digital now, not because they have been in a splendid “adjacent marketplace.” Still, alternatively, it was because Cisco’s center commercial enterprise was slowing. Cisco discovered itself in a market because of this error, and it truly failed to realize something approximately – consumer electronics. The forces that force this marketplace are unlike the people who power Cisco’s primary agency networking market.
Additionally, Cisco’s brand name, which conveys quality and innovation inside the agency marketplace, would assist in selling more Flip video cameras. It didn’t. I, for one, do not partner with Cisco with home merchandise and would rather purchase something from Sony or Apple before I buy something from Cisco. Finally, any mind that Cisco had about using the Flip product line to sell its different products was a pipe dream. People shopping for a US$ hundred video digital camera aren’t equal to those buying a US$25,000 high-end router.
Bad Product Decisions
Did I mention that the Flip product line is regarded as being caught in a time warp? In the quick-moving subject of purchaser electronics, that is the worst component that may show up. The Flip pretty a great deal given mowed overusing the advent of smartphones: each Apple and Android product getting higher and better each couple of months at doing what the Flip does.
The Cisco product managers ought to have stored the Flip. Just like the parents over at MySpace, they could have specialized in saving the delivery from happening. One way to try this could be to work very hard to incorporate social networking capabilities. Just imagine if you could shoot a video of your canine barking a Christmas tune, then hit a button and have it mechanically uploaded to both YouTube and your Facebook account. But that never passed off.
Finally, the product in no way moved on. There became by no means a compelling high-end Flip product that I saw in magazines that made me look longingly at (e., G. The iPad, 2) considering what I may want to do with it. The Cisco product managers could have had to be cautious right here. However, things like an amazing zoom lens, Wi-Fi connectivity, and perhaps even an app shop only for the Flip might have completed the trick. We’ll by no means recognize.
What All Of This Means For You
When an organization desires to grow its bottom line, buying another enterprise to get a hit product seems like a simple way to achieve this. However, Cisco’s ultra-a success has proved that this can surely be a risky way to do things.
Their purchase of the Flip video camera product line was incorrect. Although the product became hot after they bought it, destiny was already getting cloudy as smartphones were getting smarter and less expensive. The lack of compelling high-quit functions or social networking tie-ins reduced the client’s interest in this greater electronic system. Finally, Cisco failed to recognize that they were stepping into plenty of the patron market.
In the end, it all comes down to doing the simple product manager homework we’ve all been taught to do. You need to check the marketplace and understand what needs they are trying to fill. You need to look at your product and make some hard selections about how you are going to fill that need better than everyone else. Cisco spent over US$500M to research this lesson, permitting the desire that the rest of us can learn from their mistake.
