Cisco and Intel have partnered to launch a new tablet device called the Cius.
The Cius (intentionally pronounced as “See Us”), is a small, Android based tablet being pitched to communication/collaboration focused business and educational users. When it comes to describing gadgets, images just seem to work best. So to get a feel for what the Cius is like, just skim through this two part demo of the device given by John Chambers at last week’s Cisco Live conference in Las Vegas:
I’m not sure what Cisco was thinking with the design of the Cius. At this point, Apple’s iPad has set the standard for tablet based devices, and by that metric, the Cius is a major fail. It comes across as a thick and ungainly piece of plastic. The large speaker grill (I’m assuming) in the front takes away from the usable touch surface of the device, and the choice of a 7″ screen makes it too small for running productivity apps – yet too large to easily carry around or use as a camera. Even the look of the software being run was unimpressive – very “last decade” in it’s style and interactivity.
I’m sure there is some segment of the business marketplace that will find this device interesting – I just don’t see it getting any real traction beyond that hard core Cisco fan base.
From what I’ve seen here, Cisco would have been much better off focusing their efforts on supporting 3rd party developers for the iPad/iPhone 4 as well as the nascent Android tablet marketplace. The results they got from doing it all in-house are, to put it mildly, unimpressive.