Cisco Systems would neither confirm nor deny speculation that it's planning to acquire Pure Digital Technologies, maker of the widely popular Flip line of handheld digital camcorders.
Citing unnamed sources, TechCrunch said Cisco is planning to buy the San Francisco-based company for upward of $500 million and that it is a "done deal."
In an e-mail to Channelweb.com, Cisco said it does not comment on rumors and speculation around mergers and acquisitions.
The acquisition would make sense for Cisco, the San Jose, Calif.-based networking giant, as it continues to focus on video and Web 2.0 while also reaching deeper into the consumer market with its line of Linksys products.
"I cannot overemphasize the importance of any device to any content over any combination of networks enabled by Cisco's technology architecture approach but it also is important that video will play in not only communications to life but also in loading networks, what we call visual networking," Cisco CEO John Chambers said last month in Cisco's quarterly earnings call.
Flip cameras are small, easy to use handheld video cameras aimed at users who want to capture footage and upload it to popular Internet video sites such as YouTube, MySpace and AOL Video. TechCrunch cited one source that said seven-year-old Pure Digital has sold more than $200 million worth of the pint-size Flip cameras, which range in price from $130 to $230, in the last couple of years. Last November, Pure Digital said it had sold roughly 1.5 million cameras, earning it 24 percent of the camcorder market.
