...the Web just can't resist over-the-top wordplay when a cleverly named product or business fails
The pending shutdown of Cisco’s Flip video camera business has sparked an epic game of headline writing one-upmanship today.
We didn’t shy away from this ourselves, reporting “Cisco to shutter Flip camera business” and tweeting about “Cisco flips off Flip camera business.”
Admittedly, the first thing that came to mind when noodling a headline was “RIP Flip”, though I saw that had already been snagged by Mashable, the Village Voice and others.
Some went the route of alliteration, such as MarketWatch with “Cisco’s Flip was no flop, says NPD” and NPR with “The Flip Flops: Smartphones helped to kill the little video camera.”
All walked a fine line, of course, given the sobering news that the Flip business shutdown is accompanied by some 550 layoffs related to a broader restructuring of Cisco’s consumer business.
At any rate, Cisco can’t be credited or blamed with the naming of this product (which we use to produce many videos at Network World). The product line already had its name when Cisco bought out Pure Digital in 2009.
The last time I can recall writers doing back flips over potential headlines on a story like this was last summer, when Google Wave washed out.
