Cisco Kills the Flip Camera [Silicon Alley Insider]
The Flip Camera burst on to the scene as one of the hottest hand-held devices around just a few years ago. In an extremely straightforward process, a Flip user could shoot and upload high-quality video. Cisco spent almost $600 million to acquire the manufacturer of the Flip, Pure Digital, in just 2009.
Now Cisco has announced its intentions to shut down its Flip business. Last week, Cisco announced that it needed to refocus its efforts company-wide as it had unsuccessfully attempted to compete with too many businesses. Cisco is slimming down its business and the first victim of this new strategy appears to be Flip.
As hot as the Flip may have been when it first came out, nearly every smartphone on the market can shoot video as easily and clearly as the top Flip video player can and upload it via a mobile network or wi-fi without the need of a computer.
It’s interesting that Cisco didn’t try to sell Flip, as opposed to just shut it down, but in the wake of their recent admission of failure and disappointment, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other, even more unexpected, shake-ups.
Cisco also mentioned that it was shutting down its FlipShare program and will be offering a transition plan to any current customers.
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