Personalizing the Flip

Pure Digital has a new trick up its sleeve for the popular Flip video cameras. CrunchGear reports that they’ve teamed up with Cafe Press to offer personalized designs on all Flip Minos. According to the press release, you can choose an existing custom design, create and upload your own, or use the Flip Video Pattern Generator to assist your creative expression.

This is utterly brilliant. People love their color iPods, personalized ring tones, and anything that makes gadgets uniquely their own. Sure, decals and engravings on laptops haven’t really taken off, but the Flip option is completely free, and is a simple add-on when you purchase your camera. (Above image is one of my own creations, and it took five minutes to generate) Not only is this great for consumer purchases, but imagine the commercial and promotional opportunities. Companies could give these away with their own images imprinted. Schools could create custom versions for fundraisers. And, through the partnership with Cafe Press, any designs can be added to the public marketplace and made available for purchase. Check out Andy Ihnatko’s fabulous creations.

The new personalized designs are only available for the Flip Mino, and I’m hoping this doesn’t mean Pure Digital is planning to move away entirely from the Flip Ultra, my preferred Flip version. In any case, this is a great addition to Pure Digital’s offerings. I suspect we’ll see a big holiday push with this and the upcoming HD Flip as we head in to the biggest gadget buying season of the year.