A final Kodak moment

Alas, poor Kodak. I’ve written about [the implications of its fall elseblog](http://nextberlin.eu/2012/01/the-third-age-of-photography/), but I do still feel sad hearing about [its final departure from the camera industry](http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Kodak_Focuses_Consumer_Business_On_More_Profitable_Growth_Opportunities.htm). 

And, this must mark the death-knell of the cheap handheld video camera, too. From the rise of the Flip to the fall of Kodak can’t have been more than four years. It’s around three and a half years since [I first mentioned the Flip on this blog](http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/archives/2008/10/flip_mino_test_one.html), and just over [two years since I switched to a Kodak camera](http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/archives/2010/01/snow_travel_and_the_kodak_zi8.html). Kodak had pretty much filled the Flip void before the Flip itself was killed by Cisco. And what’s left standing now? The Sony Bloggie? It that it?

Pretty much. And it’s clear what killed them – the mobile phone. With most smartphones now shooting better digital video than the early Flips, the category was doomed the second phones got that ability. Why spend an extra £100 for something you’ve already go on your phone?

Four years for an entire category to rise and fall. *Four years.* Is it any wonder so many companies are struggling to survive these changing times?