A similar question would be – Can Amazon introduce E-books to the masses?
They are doing it right know – But how?

Amazon Fulfillment Center - A thing of the past?

Amazon kindle is an amazing product, with estimate sales of 1.5 to 3 million units for Q4 2009 and after selling more e-books than hard-covers in July 2010 – It is E-book for the masses.

But is it the Kindle device itself that enabled all of those E- books sales? Amazon won’t tell -
Judging by the popularity of the Kindle iPad-application, it’s probably not. According to analysts the iPad already sold more units than all kindle versions together – and the kindle is on the market for almost 3 years.
If this trend to continue and Amazon’s kindle application will remain so popular on the iPad – The Kindle hardware itself will become less relevant as most kindle users will read their E-books on the iPad.

Kindle Application on the Popular iPad tablet

It might be possible that in order for Amazon to keep it’s superiority in the E-book field they must support the most popular tablet on the market – The iPad. And while not an E-book device it seems to be an adequate reader by itself.
Unlike E-book readers that remains a niche product – iPad or an iPad like device is something many of us will find at out homes and briefcases within a few years.

Cisco doesn’t sell E-books, with the Cius they expect to sell something that is even more of a niche product – Telepresence systems.
As with the Kindle/iPad situation, Cius might kick-start the engine, but I don’t think it will fuel the revolution.
Cius and Kindle are niche products, they do what they do well, but most consumers prefer one thing that does everything – With the iPad, it is possible.
At 499 USD, the lowest cost iPad cost only 10 dollars more than the highest end Kindle DX. The Kindle is still a monochrome E-book reader and not a high-end tablet with high resolution color screen suited for video.

Cisco Cius - HD Video-Conferencing Tablet

Cisco’s Cius can’t really cost much less than a modern tablet, as it hardware should be suited for HD video.

So the question remains – At a similar price point to an all-around multimedia machine, with many applications – Can the Cius really compete?

As Sagee Ben-Zedeff from Radvision said in his blog-post about Cius – Cisco isn’t targeting Apple with this move. But if we look further ahead – Cisco might gain more from going the Amazon way, and enabling iPad users to communicate with its Telepresence platforms.
While it’s true the iPad don’t have a built-in camera, adding one shouldn’t be problematic; it’s quite easy to speculate that as with the iPhone – a front facing camera will be added eventually.

We all understand the importance of Interoperability as in this case, it might help make a niche product a commodity. The ability to phone-call a Telepresence session makes Telepresence useful for meetings that are not only-management level.

The next step, as it seems, just like the kindle service (which is now, more than just Hardware) is not only connect Cius to every other device, but to connect every other device to the Cius ecosystem. If Apple and Cisco will understand the potential video-conferencing interoperability holds for both of them – both will profit.