Explaining the decision to discontinue the Cius, Cisco's OJ Winge stated , "These stats underscore a major shift in the way people are working, in the office, at home and on-the-go, a shift that will continue to gain momentum."

Winge adds, "Based on these market transitions, Cisco will no longer invest in the Cisco Cius tablet form factor, and no further enhancements will be made to the current Cius endpoint beyond what's available today."

Even if BYOD weren't a factor, the cost of a Cius would be hard for IT to justify. Cisco has a solid reputation and is trusted as a provider of enterprise infrastructure, but if a business can buy a 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 for $250, why would it spend three times that amount for a Cius?

Rather than competing in the tablet market, Cisco will focus on meeting the software needs of tablet users across all platforms with tools like Jabber and WebEx.