New Flip UltraHD camcorder
(Credit: Pure Digital)
The success of Pure Digital’s original Flip Video has launched a slew of copycat products, and Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan embraces it.
“It makes me even more proud of the team,” he said in an interview this week. “Imitation is an absolutely fine form of flattery. I’m happy every time a competitor launches a new product.”
Kaplan’s sunny outlook on the competition likely stems from the relative lack of success they have had. Electronics makers much larger and longer-established than the San Francisco-based maker of tiny flash-based digital camcorders–like Sony and Kodak–have attempted to cut themselves a slice of the market. But none has tapped into the almost inexplicable appeal of the slightly boxy, plasticky handheld video camera with the pop-out USB arm, which gets a refresh on Thursday. Plus, now that Cisco Systems has agreed to purchase Pure Digital, the company will have an even bigger platform to stand on.
“We haven’t seen significant erosion (of market share) from some of the bigger names that have entered, such as Sony, Kodak or RCA,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group. Besides jumping into the market later, Sony’s WebbieHD and Kodak’s Zi6 are rendered less convenient and sometimes more expensive by either not including a USB connector or additional memory cards, according to Rubin.
As of February, Pure Digital’s Flip cameras were the top selling of similar devices that cost $200 or less in its category, followed by Aiptek, which makes the A-HD camera, Taiwan’s DXG Technology, RCA, and Sakar, according to NPD. Though NPD doesn’t give out retail data on individual companies, Kaplan claims Pure Digital sells “under 10 million” Flip cameras worldwide per year. That’s actually good enough to be the No. 2 seller of digital video camcorders in the U.S., regardless of price, putting them right behind Sony.
Now the device that basically invented the $200 flash memory-based digital camcorder category is getting some tweaks in an attempt to keep competitors at bay. The Ultra model, first introduced in 2007, is branching off into two devices: the Ultra II and the Ultra HD. …
An apparently reliable source at Palm has told 
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This second series is pulled from 