Lady Geek

 

I am in gagdet envy again. Pure Digital have made a “Flip” video camera, perfect for the youtube generation. Its the size of a digital camera.   The beauty of this camera is its simplicity.  There are no tapes or discs, no menus or settings, no lens cap, no memory card, no headphone jack.  You turn it on and it’s ready to film in two seconds.  You press the red button to record and once to stop and play to review the video.  When the memorys full (30/60 minutes depending on model) you slide a button and a USB jack pops out and you are spared the hassle of finding a USB cable.  Amazing.  As the NYT states “Its the very definition of less is more.”  In the US, you have 5 year olds along with 80 year old grandmothers using it. 

Women love it.  Because they can put it into their handbags, coat pockets, beach bags.   Rather than make it more complicated with extra features due to the “forces of the feature creeps” that no-one will ever use like most technology on the market, the Flip goes back to basics.  Its simple, convenenient and good value and its flying off the shelves like hot cakes.  According to the NYT, it has captured 13% of the camcorder market in one year. 

I want one.   My husband is in the habit of carying a very heavy and inconvenient Nikon D200 – he says that even though he loves it, it’s a nuisance to get out of his bag and set up.  Most dSLR cameras sit on a shelf and gather dust.  I want the equivalent of a point and shoot, plug and play that I can use spontaneously to capture my son’s first steps and slip into my handbag.   We bought a JVC camera when my son was born and have hardly used it.  It’s quite bulky, quite complicated and the first time I used it I was frustrated as I couldn’t master it and I felt out of my mental zone.  Since then, it mostly lay on the floor of our office. 

I agree with Hawkins, referenced in the NYT “If you are successful at something the first time you try, you fall in love with it instantly in love with it.”  So many of the women I spoke to feel frustration and annoyance rather than a sense of pride and happiness with much of the technology on the market.   Once they have had a bad first experience, they default to their partner or a male friend or they give up completely.  The Flip will continue to make women fall in love with it.   I hope the marketing strategy is as good as the product!