5 ms·

> You probably know Belkin for its various lines of accessories, peripherals, and assorted consumer electronics; Linksys, surely the most recognizable router br

by luhn 9y ago

> You probably know Belkin for its various lines of accessories, peripherals, and assorted consumer electronics; Linksys, surely the most recognizable router brand, is a subsidiary. Apparently Cisco sold Linksys to Belkin in 2013. That's news to me.

duxup 9y ago
Cisco had money burning a hole in their pocket and bought a some consumer stuff and then had no idea what to do with it ... so they sold most of it off, or simply discontinued it (like flip video).
- gonzo 9y ago
  Not the first time they entered and then abandoned the consumer space. Once upon a time, they made NICs.
  - duxup 9y ago
    Yup, they took their corporate video conferencing products and tried to make a consumer version (Umi I think it was) that while cheaper than the cooperate product were still absurdly expensive. This was all while Skype pretty well established .... it was pure insanity.
    - VectorLock 9y ago
      And now we have WebEx and they're trying to make a Slack competitor.
      - nimbix 9y ago
        Had to use WebEx on a client call once. Had to install two different packages because audio was "provided by Comcast". It was the only time ever that I saw the video, but couldn't get audio, so a coworker had to update me on Slack in real time so I knew what I was watching. Horrible.
      - paulie_a 9y ago
        WebEx is such an abomination of software I will never use it again.
        triangleman 9y ago
        guess what, if you use the WebEx chat program it saves your entire history in an encrypted sqlite db that you can't access after your company stops using WebEx.
        Corrado 9y ago
        Are you talking about the Cisco Spark chat program? If so, I can completely believe it. That thing is a piece of garbage.
        triangleman 9y ago
        I don't think so. It was a previous program that I guess they discontinued. The real story is that WebEx chat client was auto-upgraded to something called "WebEx Jabber" and there was definitely a server storage aspect of chats. But no plan for what to do with locally stored chats. Sucks to lose your chat history, lots of gems in there.
        heywire 9y ago
        I use WebEx daily and have almost no issues. That said, I work for a very large company and we have our own instance, so maybe we have something custom.
      - duxup 9y ago
        Oh man WebEx is crazy clunky software. I used it regularly for years and never got comfortable with it ... let alone that it ran in fits and starts for everyone. Not using webEx was one of the things I actually looked forward to when I lost my last job. It's crazy that would occur to me.
  - technofiend 9y ago
    Once upon a time they made damn good NICs.
- mygo 9y ago
  they discontinued flip video because after the acquisition they didn’t really understand the consumer and then GoPro came and they got wreckt
  - jermaustin1 9y ago
    I still use my flip. It's my favorite little camcorder. My wife uses it every day at her internship where she has to record her patients for class and supervision. She isn't allowed to use a network connected device to do the recording for HIPAA compliance.
  - duxup 9y ago
    Generally speaking Cisco has largely blown the whole consumer business... repeatedly. They just don't understand it, they're not built to run it. They spent a ton on flip during the rise of the smartphone. Every executive probabbly had a device in their pocket that would replace the company they were buying for crazy money.
  - giobox 9y ago
    I think the bigger problem was cellphones, especially the iPhone, gaining the ability to record decent video. Flip filled a convenient niche for a few years until the 3GS came along with video support, after which it was useless for many consumers. This was the only reason I bought a Flip, and the only reason anyone else I know with one did. Similarly, I think the first mainstream smartphones to record HD video wasn't until 2010. Again flip had a small window with their HD models before cellphones killed them again. At least GoPro have (had?) a good story around their mounts and waterproofing, there was nothing in my opinion a Flip did that cellphones didn't very quickly do better.
    - mygo 9y ago
      This is true. I think the iPhone did the same thing to Garmin GPS and other single-purpose hardware companies. They all lost so much of their market. Apple already knew people were buying and would continue to buy these things, and their innovation was just putting it all into one device. So you could buy a Garmin GPS and a Flip video camera, and end up spending $300-$500 total and carry 2 devices around, or you could just buy an iPhone 3GS for $199 and also make phone calls with it. I'm still trying to figure out the $1,000 price tag of an iPhone nowadays however. Where is the substance behind that price? (And I own an iPhone, apple watch, iPad Pro, a Macbook Pro, and a Macbook air, so I really doo appreciate a good product, just can't comprehend the value proposition of a $1000 iPhone.)
- ww520 9y ago
  That's Cisco's R&D model. Buy smaller companies with interesting tech and see if their products stick. If they do, great. If not, spit them out via sale or shut them down.
  - digi_owl 9y ago
    Hardly unique to Cisco. Every major tech company, yes even Apple, operate they try to sustain their existence beyond their initial success.
    - sushid 9y ago
      The parent commenter is saying that Cisco essentially doesn't do much outside of the acquisition. Companies like Google or Apple do a lot of work to integrate the existing software or hardware into their lineup (e.g. Google Voice, Google Doc, Siri, Siri music search)
raverbashing 9y ago
Which is a shame because Belkin equipment was crap

by luhn 9y ago

duxup 9y ago

Cisco had money burning a hole in their pocket and bought a some consumer stuff and then had no idea what to do with it ... so they sold most of it off, or simply discontinued it (like flip video).

gonzo 9y ago
Not the first time they entered and then abandoned the consumer space. Once upon a time, they made NICs.
- duxup 9y ago
  Yup, they took their corporate video conferencing products and tried to make a consumer version (Umi I think it was) that while cheaper than the cooperate product were still absurdly expensive. This was all while Skype pretty well established .... it was pure insanity.
  - VectorLock 9y ago
    And now we have WebEx and they're trying to make a Slack competitor.
    - nimbix 9y ago
      Had to use WebEx on a client call once. Had to install two different packages because audio was "provided by Comcast". It was the only time ever that I saw the video, but couldn't get audio, so a coworker had to update me on Slack in real time so I knew what I was watching. Horrible.
    - paulie_a 9y ago
      WebEx is such an abomination of software I will never use it again.
      - triangleman 9y ago
        guess what, if you use the WebEx chat program it saves your entire history in an encrypted sqlite db that you can't access after your company stops using WebEx.
        Corrado 9y ago
        Are you talking about the Cisco Spark chat program? If so, I can completely believe it. That thing is a piece of garbage.
        triangleman 9y ago
        I don't think so. It was a previous program that I guess they discontinued. The real story is that WebEx chat client was auto-upgraded to something called "WebEx Jabber" and there was definitely a server storage aspect of chats. But no plan for what to do with locally stored chats. Sucks to lose your chat history, lots of gems in there.
      - heywire 9y ago
        I use WebEx daily and have almost no issues. That said, I work for a very large company and we have our own instance, so maybe we have something custom.
    - duxup 9y ago
      Oh man WebEx is crazy clunky software. I used it regularly for years and never got comfortable with it ... let alone that it ran in fits and starts for everyone. Not using webEx was one of the things I actually looked forward to when I lost my last job. It's crazy that would occur to me.
- technofiend 9y ago
  Once upon a time they made damn good NICs.
mygo 9y ago
they discontinued flip video because after the acquisition they didn’t really understand the consumer and then GoPro came and they got wreckt
- jermaustin1 9y ago
  I still use my flip. It's my favorite little camcorder. My wife uses it every day at her internship where she has to record her patients for class and supervision. She isn't allowed to use a network connected device to do the recording for HIPAA compliance.
- duxup 9y ago
  Generally speaking Cisco has largely blown the whole consumer business... repeatedly. They just don't understand it, they're not built to run it. They spent a ton on flip during the rise of the smartphone. Every executive probabbly had a device in their pocket that would replace the company they were buying for crazy money.
- giobox 9y ago
  I think the bigger problem was cellphones, especially the iPhone, gaining the ability to record decent video. Flip filled a convenient niche for a few years until the 3GS came along with video support, after which it was useless for many consumers. This was the only reason I bought a Flip, and the only reason anyone else I know with one did. Similarly, I think the first mainstream smartphones to record HD video wasn't until 2010. Again flip had a small window with their HD models before cellphones killed them again. At least GoPro have (had?) a good story around their mounts and waterproofing, there was nothing in my opinion a Flip did that cellphones didn't very quickly do better.
  - mygo 9y ago
    This is true. I think the iPhone did the same thing to Garmin GPS and other single-purpose hardware companies. They all lost so much of their market. Apple already knew people were buying and would continue to buy these things, and their innovation was just putting it all into one device. So you could buy a Garmin GPS and a Flip video camera, and end up spending $300-$500 total and carry 2 devices around, or you could just buy an iPhone 3GS for $199 and also make phone calls with it. I'm still trying to figure out the $1,000 price tag of an iPhone nowadays however. Where is the substance behind that price? (And I own an iPhone, apple watch, iPad Pro, a Macbook Pro, and a Macbook air, so I really doo appreciate a good product, just can't comprehend the value proposition of a $1000 iPhone.)
ww520 9y ago
That's Cisco's R&D model. Buy smaller companies with interesting tech and see if their products stick. If they do, great. If not, spit them out via sale or shut them down.
- digi_owl 9y ago
  Hardly unique to Cisco. Every major tech company, yes even Apple, operate they try to sustain their existence beyond their initial success.
  - sushid 9y ago
    The parent commenter is saying that Cisco essentially doesn't do much outside of the acquisition. Companies like Google or Apple do a lot of work to integrate the existing software or hardware into their lineup (e.g. Google Voice, Google Doc, Siri, Siri music search)

raverbashing 9y ago

Which is a shame because Belkin equipment was crap