"Cisco is shutting down a business unit that it bought for over half a billion dollars: the Flip camcorder division.
That’s a shame, considering how high the Flip was flying a few short years ago. It’s also a waste, considering that Cisco bought Flip from Pure Digital only two years ago for a cool $590 million. But Cisco probably had to act fast, because its earnings fell 18 percent in the second quarter of 2011, and CEO John Chambers had to show he was doing something decisive to stanch the flow."
That’s a shame, considering how high the Flip was flying a few short years ago. It’s also a waste, considering that Cisco bought Flip from Pure Digital only two years ago for a cool $590 million. But Cisco probably had to act fast, because its earnings fell 18 percent in the second quarter of 2011, and CEO John Chambers had to show he was doing something decisive to stanch the flow."
2 comments:
Flip had no unique technology and no barriers to entry for competitors. They had a brand name, and a minor one at that, and Cisco paid almost $600 million for it, using other people’s money. How could they not have seen that video capture could be easily added to phones, at a small cost, and nobody needed to buy a device that wasn’t a better camera?
When I read this I thought of you immediately. Haven't been good about keeping in touch, but think of our film collaboration often! Hope all is well with you.
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