Cisco Kills Off Cius Business Tablet

"Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no furthermore enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what's available today" O.J. Winge, Cisco's senior vice president in its TelePresence Innovation Group, said in a blog post. "But, as we evaluate the market furthermore, we will continue to offer Cius in a limited fashion to clients with specific needs or use cases."

For example, a Cisco survey Winge cited noted the increase in companies allowing employees to bring in their own devices, and integrating them in the network. A Cisco survey cited by Winge found that 95 percent of all organizations allow employee-owned devices, and 36 percent integrate them.

In 2010, Cisco launched the Cius, which the company touted as the first Android tablet exactly designed for the business market.

Unlike other tablets, Cisco said that the Cius was designed for and came bundled with Cisco technologies designed for mobile business, including the ability to display 720p video in conjunction with the Cisco Telepresence solution. Notably, the tablet could be docked into something that looked like a traditional VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone. The tablet as well came bundled with Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, WebEx, Presence, and an instant-messenger app.