MFP Wars "The Final Five"

How many players do we have now? Let's see: Ricoh, Xerox, Canon, KonicaMinolta, OCE, Sharp, Kyocera, Toshiba, Muratec, and Panasonic.

Many moons ago, I made a few predictions regarding what I thought would happen with Ricoh Americas. To sum it up, my thoughts were that Ricoh would take all non-performing dealers and ask them to become Lanier or Savin, while keeping the top Ricoh Dealer performers. It made sense to me that the Direct Channel would then have less competition for the Ricoh name and the emergence of the Print Production Group. Ricoh then buys Ikon, and the Direct Channel is now massive. Who do you feed first? Do I think this will happen? Well, we've all seen stranger things happen, right?

Xerox

Xerox remains a strong force with the purchase of Global and then the Global purchase of Conmdoc. As a matter of fact, there's a neat poll on the RFG Family Group. It asks, "What Dealer Will Global Buy Next?" There are three dealers listed, and all three are giants in their marketplace. RFG P4P Hotel. I'll try to repost here in a few days for everyone.

Canon

Canon, OMG! It seems they are signing any dealer that's still breathing. In my marketplace just a year ago, we had two Canon dealers. We now have SIX dealers all competing in the same marketplace. What a way to erode your prices and saturate the market.

Panasonic

Panasonic seems to have thrown in the towel with their dealer network, and Muratec remains strong as a secondary source. I would have to believe that three of these companies will retire from the MFP marketplace in a few years. Rumors were rampant a few weeks ago that Toshiba was going to sell its MFP division to Canon until Mark Mathews, President, and COO, Toshiba America Business Solutions, announced that this was not true and they have never engaged anyone. However, two weeks ago, Norio Saskai was announced as the new President and CEO of Toshiba Corporate.

Toshiba

Toshiba seems like they are betting the ranch on Micro Nuclear Reactors (don't want one of those in my backyard). I don't think we've seen the last of the Toshiba rumors, and if the economy keeps going the way it is, things will happen!

Kyocera

Rumors have also been rampant that Kyocera has or will sign an OEM agreement with Canon for their segment 6 systems. Let's be real; there are some great Kyocera Dealers out there. However, how many really have the sales force and the bucks to play in that market? I see Kyocera's future as a dominating force for Global Solar Panels. You read more press releases about their solar technology than their MFP technology.

Sharp

Sharp, your guess is as good as mine. They release some fantastic boxes, trying to play in Print Production, and then they pass on the "On Demand Show" in Philly. Go figure.

So, that leaves us with the "Final 5" copier companies: Ricoh, Xerox, KonicaMinolta, Canon, and OCE (rumors here with OCE that KonicaMinolta may make a move). These are my bets for who will make the final five. Maybe we can flip Kyocera and Oce.

The big conglomerates such as Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, and Kyocera may have bigger roads to hoe than MFPs.

-=Good Selling=-