Five Highs, Five Lows: Cisco's Channel In the Goodwin Era

LOW: June 2009: Flip Explained

Cisco's March 2009 acquisition of Pure Digital, maker of the once-popular Flip video camera, seemed like a ballsy move at the time, with Cisco furthering both its consumer and video technology ambitions in one swift M&A move. But fast forward a few years, and the Pure Digital buy seems misguided, with the Flip itself destined to be remembered as a symbol of how Cisco got frustratingly distracted from its core networking priorities.

Still, Cisco executives talked a good game about Flip. In this June 2009 video interview with CRN, Goodwin described Flip as a "very strategic acquisition" for Cisco that would "get partners thinking about how to get video integrated into their strategic offerings."

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