Givit, creator of a cloud service and mobile app that allows users to send videos to friends to kick off instant messaging, will replace Flipshare, the video-sharing service Cisco had offered to users of its discontinued Flip camera. Users have 30 days from March 15 to move existing videos over. They can continue to load new clips to Flipshare until it closes in December 2013, but will have to transfer them within 30 days. Givit is free to use and stores up to 2 gigabytes of video without charge. Beyond that, premium packages for 10, 25 and 50 gigabytes are available, for annual subscriptions of $29.99, $49.99 and $99.99 respectively.  The company is offering Flipshare users a charter subscriber package of double storage at each level. Though Cisco has never reported the number of Flipshare users, it said 8 million Flips were sold before the product was discontinued. Givit CEO Greg Kostello says this demonstrates demand for a simple service like his. "The Flip audience has shown they want video to be easy and sharable," he says. The deal is a boost for Givit, whose video service launched in 2011. The company's core product allows users to capture and send videos through email or messaging service, or "messaging without typing" Kostello says.

Privacy A Key To Approach

Besides simplicity, Kostello says the company's key feature is privacy. "A big part of our value is in giving users control of their content," he says. YouTube, for example, allows users to permit only a select group to view a video, but doing so requires a multi-step process. As a result, clips meant to be private can easily end up public. With Givit, privacy is the default. In effect, Kostello hopes to create video sharing for the masses. One challenge Cisco faced with Flip was that "people understood the device, but not the sharing," he says. Givit is device independent, so files can be uploaded from a computer, smartphone or tablet. Video messages are automatically added to your library, though if you're keeping an eye on storage, they're easily deleted. The app is available for both Android and iOS. Flipshare users can move their files over by at either www.givit.com or www.flipshare.com.