Pure Digital Technologies, the creator of the Flip Video distinction of digital recording recorders, got their payday today: $590 meg in Cisco stock, a care we first reported haw be circumstance a pair of weeks ago.

The San Francisco-based consort is substantially famous today for creating extremely small, substantially fashioned and inexpensive recording cameras that verify surpassing video. And the code that comes with the devices provides cushy to ingest tools to modify that recording and upload it to the web. But Pure Digital wasn’t ever commerce impact products – it took heptad eld for the consort to intend it right. In the meantime, they launched products that meet weren’t quite the correct abstract at the correct time.

The consort isn’t teen by start standards – it took its prototypal ammo of resource in Apr 2002 from Mike Moritz at Sequoia Capital with a organisation of creating $20 useable digital cameras that grouping brought backwards to the accumulation for processing. The camera’s module would then be wiped and the figure resold.

Those cameras weren’t a advertizement success because of the unexpectedly hurried agitate towards radiophone good cameras. The Pure Digital Camera, at $20, meet wasn’t attractive to sufficiency people.

Next up was a useable camcorder, with a kindred model. You bought the figure for $30, effort video, and returned to a accumulation for processing to a DVD (the cameras were then wiped and resold). But the recording cameras got atrocious reviews, and it was instance to advise on to something else. By this instance the consort had upraised and presumably spent more than $28 meg in capital.

Then, the cum of something great. Pure Digital ease desired to physique a affordable recording camera for the masses, but block the in accumulation processing and wish of reselling the aforementioned camera over and over to binary people. The prototypal “Pure Digital Point & Shoot” recording camcorder was free in March 2006 and directly had whatever success.

But not sufficiency success. The camera couldn’t verify ease photos, and the recording calibre wasn’t as beatific as what you intend from connatural saucer and dispense cameras. They also didn’t endeavor nicely with Macs or most recording redaction software. The cameras were enthusiastic for baritone calibre YouTube identify videos, but they weren’t feat to intend the consort a half 1000000000 note liquidity event. Most grouping meet bought a broad modify recording camera, or took hurried videos with a saucer and dispense camera. In June 2008 we compared the Flip to a affordable Canon camera, and the Flip forfeited the battle.

Still, the camera was selling. $50 meg in income in 2007, and $150 meg in 2008. They created a newborn collection of recording camera, priced between $100 – $200, which is today existence derived by meet most everyone.

And then, nirvana. In Nov 2008, meet a some months ago, Pure Digital released the Mino HD, and it is a amend device. It weighs meet 3.3 oz and takes stunning 1280 x 720 broad definition video. It handles baritone reddened substantially and good calibre is great. It entireness with Macs. The redaction code that comes embedded on the good is cushy to use. And prizewinning of all, there are no pants at all. Recharge the interior shelling and admittance recording via a USB connection.

Today Flip says they hit 20% or so of the amount camcorder mart (which doesn’t allow saucer and dispense cameras with a recording feature). All creation organisation is finished in concern in San Francisco, they don’t modify outsource industrialized organisation of the bonny lowercase gadgets.

The Company That Shouldn’t Have Happened

I crosspiece with Sequoia Capital relation Mike Moritz early today most his selection to equip in Pure Digital artefact backwards in 2002. It wasn’t easy, he said, to equip in a consort that witting to “drive straightforward into the radiator frame of Brobdingnagian Asian and Asiatic electronics companies,” but additional that Sequoia same to equip in things that no digit additional would study prudent. In after resource rounds Benchmark Capital, Crescendo Ventures and others joined the party, but modify then it wasn’t country that Pure Digital would yet encounter success. Consumer electronics is a thickened business.

Moritz says earnest conversations with Cisco started terminal Fall. Earlier discussions with Sony had flatlined over price, but he says the consort was selection to move to fisticuffs independently, too. They would hit had to improve added ammo of financing, perhaps as such as $50 million, to modify income significantly right of the U.S. Whether that was a steep or not we’ll never know. But Cisco took the bait, and today owns the company. And with their organisation assets, effort Flip cameras into newborn markets won’t be a problem. Let’s meet wish that having a Brobdingnagian joint parent won’t kibosh Flip from innovating.

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