We are making key, targeted moves as we align operations in support of our network-centric platform strategy. As we move forward, our consumer efforts will focus on how we help our enterprise and service provider customers optimize and expand their offerings for consumers, and help ensure the network’s ability to deliver on those offerings.
—
Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers’ jargony explanation for why Cisco purchased yet is now shutting down Flip Video
Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers’ jargony explanation for why Cisco purchased yet is now shutting down Flip Video
Frankie Laguna
on 12 Apr 11I have no idea what he’s talking about. All I got from it is: “We’re killing Flip Video, and we’re going to try and make something better, but we all know it’s going to fail.”
Peter Baker
on 12 Apr 11Why can’t companies ever just be honest when a product doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s ok to let something go away, just don’t try make it sound like it was part of a strategy.
That all could’ve been translated to “Flip Cameras had their day, but now that everyone has a camera on their phone, it’s hard to justify a mono-task device like this one. But don’t worry, Cisco is still making boatloads of money.”
Nic
on 12 Apr 11TechCrunch makes a valid point:
That of course doesn’t explain the strategic thinking behind purchasing the Flip brand in the first place…
brad
on 12 Apr 11An excellent example of how to say nothing in 55 words.
Jason Miller
on 12 Apr 11This has inspired me to learn out how to use the word “offerings” more often in casual conversation.
I wish the rule of thumb for these sorts of statements was “write it like you’d speak it to a layperson” but I guess having public shareholders makes that a scary idea.
Ben Carlson
on 12 Apr 11Couldn’t make it through the first sentence before jumping to the 37s summary. “Network-centric platform strategy”... wha?
JD
on 12 Apr 11via BS Translate 3000:
Gary Bury
on 12 Apr 11It’s amazing these words get published on some big sites without some accompanying sarcastic comment.
What are these people thinking as they write this crap.
Mark White
on 12 Apr 11http://www.atrixnet.com/bs-generator.html
JF
on 12 Apr 11Words aside, I think it was a smart move by Cisco. Sometimes the market moves out from under you, sometimes your strategy changes, sometimes you just made a bad call. What’s worse is allowing the bad idea to drag you down forever just to save face or protect yourself from admitting a product or product line just isn’t worth it anymore. Cut the waste, take your lumps, and move on. Focus.
Nathan
on 12 Apr 11Its ironic how creative someone must be in order to write a 55 word statement with that actually says so little. He’s using his creativity for evil instead of good!
Handi
on 12 Apr 11@37signals
I don’t see any difference in what Cisco has done with shutting down Flip and your absolute lack of focus on Ta-da list and Writeboard
Dylan
on 12 Apr 11It sounds as if John has no idea what Cisco does as a company.
SK
on 12 Apr 11So Chamber’s move is gold but his explanation is turd.
Dominic Pettifer
on 12 Apr 11I’d rather listen to Steve Ballmer going “Blah blah blah, developers developers developers!!” :-)
Morgan Currie
on 12 Apr 11Hahaha thanks guys! I love when you post stuff like this! My company is currently revamping most of the copy on our product site and, as bad as we think some of it is, it doesn’t even come close to this level of insanity. It’s almost as if they are making a point to be unclear.
Chris
on 12 Apr 11@Handi
Ta-da list and Writeboard are crumbs from a bigger project. They don’t sell them. There’s a big difference.
Brad Apling
on 12 Apr 11“Align operations” – were their operations not aligned or misaligned. Time to see the business chiropractor. “As we move forward” – would any company move back? “Help our enterprise and service provider customers” – not focus on other customers? “Help ensure the network’s ability to deliver” – isn’t this like the mission statement at fast food places which says something like ‘to deliver good tasting food in a clean environment? Sort of the baseline of what should be delivered and not a new focus.
BTW – I’m not yet a user of Writeboard but Ta-da list has been a very useful tool for me, especially through my phone. I work with two non-profits in which Writeboard will be perfect for collaboration, especially as it’s difficult for the members to get together in the same place, same time.
Dmitry Mazin
on 12 Apr 11Well, back to selling $600 network-enabled webcams we go!
Jorn Mineur
on 12 Apr 11Flip is underdoing the competition.
Jason Leister
on 12 Apr 11Do you think he talks that way at home?
Mark Smith
on 12 Apr 11The truth is, almost no one talks that way. That John Chambers quote apparently came from this press release:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2011/corp_041211c.html
In my experience, the quotes that most companies include in press releases are written by PR people, not by the person who was allegedly quoted.
This does seem like a good move for Cisco though (i.e., keep the main thing the main thing).
Phil Willis
on 12 Apr 11When you’re the head of a giant like Cisco, there is no upside to communicating frankly.
Promotions in large companies go to people who avoid risk, so by the time you’re the CEO you have no appetite for doing or saying anything that will rock the boat.
The primary mission at that point is to not spook the horses and keep the investors calm.
And this is where this kind of non-communication comes from.
YOHAMI
on 12 Apr 11Do you have to fail a grammar test before they make you CEO?
Bonzo
on 13 Apr 11I love that you guys post this drivel for us to openly mock.
Why do you think that corporate-speak has evolved to be confusing and free of meaty content? Is there a coded message in here that reaches its targeted audience without driving the stock price down? If you speak like this, do you get to keep your job longer?
EH
on 13 Apr 11Another successful acquisition. What is it, 550 or so ppl laid off?
Rich
on 13 Apr 11That quotation will appear in Don Watson’s next book.
David Minton
on 14 Apr 11Too bad they are not selling or spinning it off Flip. Considering Cisco paid nearly $600 million, you would think it would be worth something to someone. I guess it is worth more to write it off and kill it than go through the effort to let it live in another form.
Jordan
on 15 Apr 11JF: Do you really believe that?
Flip were the best selling cameras on Amazon, they had a 35% market share. They were about to launch a new model a few days ago (April 13) with the ability to broadcast live video to the web over a WiFi network.
A tiny percentage of the world use the iPhone or any smart phone with a decent video capability, the Flip still had a huge chunk of the market to service.
It seems to me that this is a classic case of a huge corporation buying a smaller, more innovative company in order to strip it’s best assets before setting fire to it. Terrible shame.
Paul Montwill
on 18 Apr 11I can’t believe it! They are killing such a great product!!
This discussion is closed.