SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) - Cisco Systems Inc., trying to boost the consumer appeal of its Flip camcorder, began offering a wider-screen camera that lets people store and display as much as 12 hours of high-definition video.

The new Flip SlideHD slides open to reveal a three-inch screen, making it easier to carry around videos and show them to people. Users can record as much as four hours of clips and, after compressing the video, store up to 12 hours for playback.

"Users are carrying a lot of their favorite videos with them and using the Flip as a brag book," said Simon Fleming- Wood, senior director of marketing in Cisco's consumer unit. "We decided we could do a better way of carrying your memories with you."

Cisco, the world's biggest maker of computer networking equipment, acquired the Flip last year as part of its purchase of Pure Digital Technologies Inc. Cisco is counting on the staff from Pure Digital to provide expertise on what electronic devices consumers want and how they want to use them. The Flip SlideHD, priced at about $280, went on sale last week.

The company's shares fell nine cents to $26.44 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have advanced 10 percent this year.

Cisco, based in San Jose, California, first entered the consumer market with its 2003 purchase of Linksys Group Inc., a maker of home-networking gear. The company added more products for the home in 2006 with the acquisition of television set-top box maker Scientific-Atlanta Inc.