“Because your iPhone goes with you everywhere, you’re always ready to capture every moment. And with iPhone 4, you can do it in stunning high definition.”

Sure, iPhone will be more expensive (not sure by how much) and there are those that would prefer to use a different phone, but is this an early death knell for Flip?

Hate to say it but will: the ads fit with the cultural zeitgeist. Which is, ‘dumb disconnection is not only OK but good.’ And it works.

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) suggests that any manageable system is limited in achieving more of its goal by a very small number of constraints, and that there is always at least one constraint. Picture a funnel where by the constraint is the thinnest part of the flow system. In today’s case, broad cultural intelligence is lacking, it is thin. And a lack of more broadly and widely intelligent people like you in the system limits the system’s ability to respond to intelligent, thoughtful messaging.

The unfortunate aspect of marketing in such an environment is that things can be dumbly disconnected – and badly executed -and actually work. Which goes against the grain of those of us grown on the notion that ’smart works better’ — and thusly, thinking about interconnections, contexts, benefits, messaging, preferences, semantics (!) and priorities is an imperative for successful product launch, development, brand and sustained lifescyle and business success.

I still cringe when I say it: not neccesarily. OR: at least not broadly anymore.

Que Bruta. The (larger) market’s ugly. And in fact, yes, dumb, disconnected.

Rational thinking, ahhhh. Logic and language, ahhhhhh. Interdisciplinary systems, ahhhhhhhh. Sounds, emotions, desires, images and messages all linked and woven to communicate the wonder, utility, quality and creativity of a product so multiple audiences want, remember, understand, reference, crave and must have it, ahhhhh.

OR: A bludgeon over the head so simplistic that all that’s remembered by mass confused herds with credit/debit cards is the name. “Which affordable little vid camera should I get? The Flip.”

Quality? No. Quantity. Pavlovian call-response works fine.

The current lowest common denominator works more often than not. And yeah, shitloads of Flips are selling. Long live disconnected dumb! (Privately, I’ll read, think and meditate on the oneness of the universe.)

And yes, the ability to capture on impulse does suggest ease of use…but I’m not sure that benefit alone makes it any better than a decent digital (still) camera. My main point is that I just don’t see most people carrying yet another gadget around just for high-quality video. Their success so far partly proves me wrong, I guess, and it may all be moot given the imminent “point of convergence,” as you call it.

I still think their campaign should focus less on “flipable” moments and more on “flip-worthy” moments.