In a bid to "restructure" its consumer business Cisco starts making cuts-- first of which involves the closing down of its Flip business, without even considering putting the division on sale.
Some will recall Cisco's buying of the low-cost camera business back in 2009 for $590m, a period where the company was trying to build up its consumer business. No Cisco will be cleaning out its Flip inventory before killing the line entirely.
Analysts blame smartphones for Cisco's Flip-killing decision-- since all phones carry not only cameras (most even in HD), but also internet connections-- and all the social networking possibilities that combination entails.
The company's Linksys line-- another part of its consumer business-- will also see manufacturing changes, as Cisco says it will put its focus on "greater profitability".
A final big change will involve the heavily hyped (and still oddly named) umi consumer telepresence system, which will get integrated within Cisco's business telepresence sector.
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