Cisco Systems announced today in a CEO John Chambers press release that they will be shutting down their consumer products division and laying off workers. The most popular product in the division is the Flip Video Camera. Current owners of the video recorders will be supported for the time-being along with the software that provides quick uploading of video to the Internet, FlipShare. The company admits in the release that it has disappointed shareholders by experimenting in the home electronics area.
Cisco purchased the technology when it acquired Pure Digital Technologies in 2009 for $590 million. The quality of the video is superior to that created by many Smartphone's but the inclusion of video capture on phones has created formidable competition to the Cisco product. The Flip Video Camera plugged directly into a PC or Laptop through the USB connection and allowed for saving and uploading to Facebook or YouTube after video was captured on varying internal storage chips.
Cisco has struggled in recent quarters and its stock has fallen from $23 a share to $17.5 during the past six months. Growth has stalled for the company that now hopes to focus on its main technologies in routing, switches, services, architectures, and video.
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