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An image of the FlipLive, the camcorder Flip was going to reveal April 13th. Photo: GizmodoThe day after Cisco put the axe on the Flip business, Flip had planned to debut a live-streaming camcorder.
Called the FlipLive, it would have been able to stream video to Twitter and Facebook, or email out a link to the real-time video-feed, using Wi-Fi. Gizmodo got exclusive access to images of the device, which sports the Flip’s signature candy bar design.
Live-streaming content used to only be available to big-budget news teams with large, satellite-laden trucks. These days, most smartphones and tablets are equipped with cameras, making it dead simple to upload media to the cloud.
But live-streaming continues to be a bit more of a hassle, requiring both a smartphone (a pricy device paired with an even pricier data plan) and an app or subscription to services like Ustream. Combine this with the unreliability of U.S. 3G networks, and it makes live-streaming a pretty difficult feat.
FlipLive, which relies on Wi-Fi rather than 3G or 4G services, sounds like it could have been pretty cool gadget, providing kids, soccer moms, and citizen journalists with a simple way to deliver live footage to an audience, but alas, it will probably never see the light of day.
On Tuesday, Cisco officially shut down the Flip camera business. Both Cisco, who purchased Flip maker Pure Digital in 2009, and the the rise of the smartphone have been blamed for the Flip’s demise. Rumors of a WiFi-enabled version had been floating around since late 2009, but nothing ever surfaced (until now).
550 employees are reportedly getting laid off in conjunction with the Flip business’ closing.
Exclusive Images of FlipLive [the Giz]
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