"Cisco had a grandiose plan several years ago of not abandoning its traditional infrastructure and business roots but of becoming consumer-facing as well," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates. "But Cisco really doesn't know how to be a consumer-facing company, since its always been in infrastructure selling routers and switches. Even the cable TV box they sell after purchasing Scientific Atlanta is sold to consumers through the cable companies, not directly by Cisco."

Gold said that consumer products also need constant upgrades Cisco could not keep up with. For the Flip to survive, it needed to be Wi-Fi enabled, as many predicted it would be. That would have helped Cisco sell its line of newer Wi-Fi routers working at faster 802.11n speeds inside of homes, Gold said.

"Flip was a niche product anyway, and everybody can shoot video on a cell phone now, or videoconference with it," Gold added. "People who want quality video didn't buy a Flip.

"The idea that Flip would increase video bandwidth on networks that Cisco sells into didn't work out," he said, estimating that Cisco only recouped 40% of its original Pure Digital purchase cost with Flip sales -- if that.

Repeating what many analysts have said for months -- something Chambers himself has echoed of late -- Gold said: "Cisco's lost focus and needs to refocus on key things and build on the markets [it is] already in."