Fans of the Flip camcorder will be disheartened to know that the spunky shaped camcorder has been discontinued by Cisco.
Cisco, a technology industry giant, bought Flip for US$590 million (in stock) last Spring of 2009. Two years after the company’s acquisition, Cisco announced that the brand is being discontinued. The reason why Flip camcorders met its demise is because Cisco is refocusing its business to the production of high-definition sensors placed in smart phones and the like.
Flip has way contributed to the popularity of HD camcorders in that particular rectangular box shape. It is the most popular personal camcorder in the United States. Flip camcorder broke new markets with its inexpensive, pocketable and shoot-editing-uploading practicality.
Aside from the halt of Flip camcorder productions, Cisco will also be putting 550 employees out of work. The news is an ominous reflection of the Cisco’s business health as it has been reported last February that 15 percent of its consumer sales sank while an 18 percent slid in margin profit was reported.
Here’s an expert of the Cisco press release:
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As part of the company’s comprehensive plan to align its operations, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced that it will exit aspects of its consumer businesses and realign the remaining consumer business to support four of its five key company priorities — core routing, switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video. As part of its plan, Cisco will:
Close down its Flip business and support current FlipShare customers and partners with a transition plan.
- Refocus Cisco’s Home Networking business for greater profitability and connection to the company’s core networking infrastructure as the network expands into a video platform in the home. These industry-leading products will continue to be available through retail channels.
- Integrate Cisco umi into the company’s Business TelePresence product line and operate through an enterprise and service provider go-to-market model, consistent with existing business TelePresence efforts.
- Assess core video technology integration of Cisco’s Eos media solutions business or other market opportunities for this business.
“We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support of our network-centric platform strategy,” said John Chambers, Cisco chairman and CEO. “As we move forward, our consumer efforts will focus on how we help our enterprise and service provider customers optimize and expand their offerings for consumers, and help ensure the network’s ability to deliver on those offerings.”
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