Newly Extinct: Cisco's Flip Video Camera

Cisco announcing Tuesday it will "close down its Flip business" only two years after spending $590 million on the camera maker Pure Digital, reports Business Insider.

The company, in a statement, revealed plans to "exit aspects of its consumer businesses and realign the remaining consumer business to support four of its five key company priorities -- core routing, switching and services; collaboration; architectures; and video."

The potential of a Wi-Fi enabled Flip made some sense in 2009, notes Mashable, however:

"Such a product has never materialized (even if FCC reports do indicate such a device exists). Meanwhile, the allure of the Flip — low cost video that can easily be uploaded to websites like Facebook or YouTube — was superseded by video cameras built into smartphones. In addition to the video being as good (if not better) on modern smartphones, phones have a built-in data connection and can upload video directly to the web — no computer required.

As netbooks were "intermediary products" to tablet products like iPads, Mashable considers the Flip camera an evolutionary step to whatever comes next.