Cisco kills off Web-based email service

Cisco has conceded defeat in the Web-based email game. The enterprise powerhouse just couldn't make a dent against players like Microsoft and Google, and announced today that it would shut down its WebEx hosted webmail product. WebEx debuted a couple years ago and was built upon software from PostPath, which Cisco acquired in 2008 for $215 million.

At $5 per user per month, Cisco provided only 5GB mailboxes. Google Apps, on the other hand, offers five times that storage at a slightly lower price -- and also has a totally free offering for businesses with less than 50 users. Cisco's official statment said that businesses "have come to view their email as a mature and commoditized tool versus a long-term differentiated element of their collaboration strategy." That sounds like a flowery way to say "we haven't attracted many customers since we launched this in 2009."

Tags: cisco, email, enterprise, gmail, google, google apps, GoogleApps, hotmail, live mail, LiveMail, miscrosoft, web, webmail