WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
1-13-08
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Polaroid announced that it will relabel the Zink Ink photo printer.
o Zink Corp. occupies a former Konica Minolta film manufacturing building, and employs former Konica Minolta people
o Uses thermal technology without need for ink or toner
o Uses special paper that turns colors when heated by a thermal print head
o Replacement paper sells for 40 cents each for 2”x3” sheet
o Printer is slightly bigger than a deck of playing cards
o MSRP of $150.00
o Connects to digital camera with USB or Bluetooth
o Slightly less than one minute to print on photo
o Will be named the Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer
- Toshiba stock shares are dropping fast due to company’s investment in DVD technology.
o As you may know, there are two types of high definition DVD technologies
§ HD DVD was developed and owned by Toshiba
§ Blu-Ray was developed and owned by Sony
o Time Warner Inc., MGM, Fox, & Walt Disney announced they will market future DVD’s in Blu-Ray, and other motion picture studios are following suit, leaving Toshiba’s major investment in jeapordy.
o As you may recall, in the 1970s, Sony invented Betamax video recorders, only to have that technology killed off when JVC launched the VHS format.
- Panasonic, Sharp & Toshiba have joined forces to create the Manufacturers Recycling Management Co. of Minnesota, with goal of recycling various discarded electronics, both consumer and business products. Company hopes to add partners, and expand to across the U.S.
- Canon announced that it will merge its three regional direct branch groups into one entity, controlled by one management staff. Canon Business Solutions East, Canon Business Solutions Central and Canon Business Solutions West will now all be known as Canon Business Solutions Inc.
o Joe Adachi is president and CEO
- Canon announced that its largest dealer in the southwest, and the sixth largest dealer in the U.S., RJ Young Co., has placed an imagePRESS C7000VP on its showroom floor in Nashville, TN.
- The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) announced a new certification for MFP industry professionals. The CompTIA Printing and Document Imaging+ Certification is a vendor-neutral credential for technicians and support personnel to achieve.
- Domtar, one of the largest makers of paper for production print engines, announced that its sale of sawmills in Canada to Conifex Inc. fell through. They will continue to pursue a buyer, as the company needs the revenue to help its financial condition.
- Results of survey about customer’s perceptions regarding direct mail conducted by Pitney Bowes, show customer’s ignorance about environment:
o 48% guessed that mail counted for more than half of the country’s waste
o 36% guessed that it counted for third of waste.
o 12% guessed that it counted for 9%
§ Reality is that it counts for just 2% of waste according to the EPA
o Respondents guessed that delivering 10 pieces of mail each month for a year creates more carbon dioxide than driving a car 1,000 miles in one month.
§ Reality is that it uses a small fraction of energy used
- One dealer sells out to another in Virginia. AmeriComp Imaging Systems, a dealer for HP/Canon/Brother/Lexmark/Okidata/Xerox, located in Alexandria, sold out to Offix, a Canon/Ricoh/HP dealer in Manassas.
- Kodak won a Outstanding Product Award from Popular Photography magazine for the print quality of the NexPress 2500 production color system.
- Xerox announced it will spend millions of dollars to change its logo. Instead of a red “X”, it will now be the word “Xerox” in lower case, with a red ball with a white “x” on it. (The red ball logo is similar to a red billiard ball with two white bandages stuck on it.) The goal of the new logo is to help customers perceive Xerox as offering more than just copiers. Other notes:
o current annual revenue total of $17 billion
o plans to launch 30 new products in 2008
o CEO Anne Mulcahy
o President is Ursula Burns
o Steve Cronin is President of Global Services (FM)
o Eric Armour is Chief Strategy Officer
o Will continue with acquisitions in 2008
o Spends $1 billion per year on research & development
o FM business is up 28% ($2.5 billion in last quarter)
o CEO warned investors that in 2008, companies will reduce their IT spending, which impacts the sales of printers and MFPs.
- eWeek magazine, for the computer industry, gave a raving review to the Konica Minolta magicolor 8650 color printer after testing it in their labs. (this is almost identical to the bizhub C353P) Comments made include:
o “brings performance and innovation to the market that is second to none”
o “businesses can create professional quality publications for pennies per page”
o “Print quality is something you have to see to believe”
o “made quick work of the lab test images”
o “Color coverage and detail was exceptional and color represented accurately and consistently”
o “Print using the duplex option also exhibited the same excellent quality”
- Survey commissioned by Direct Mail News in U.S. found:
o 56% value coupons received in direct mail
o 44% value catalogs received in mail
o 44% make their first purchase from a company based on offer received in the mail
o 33% make their first donation to a charity based on solicitation received in mail
- A Savin copier dealer in Pennsylvania shuts down after loss of state contract.
o Business was G.E. Richards Inc., run by president William W. Rupp, from Lancaster, PA.
o Original 9,700 sq. foot office, built in 1890 as a school, now closed, and will be auctioned off.
o Business had 44 employees and $10 million in annual revenue
o State contract business represented $6 million per year, but new contract awarded to Oce’ imagistics.
o Keystone Digital Imaging of Aston, owned by Ed Peach, purchased customer base in Lancaster and 4 counties.
o Word Processing Solutions of Hagerstown, MD purchased customer base in 2 other counties
- Tech Data, a distributor that supplies computer dealer/VARs, announced it will offer the FMAudit product so that computer dealer can offer cost per page contracts for printers. FMAudit is software that tracks usage of copier/MFPs, printers and scanners.
- Ricoh launched some new desktop MFPs, the Aficio SP C200 series offering:
o 16ppm b/w or color top speed for SF-C220 series
o 21ppm b/w or color top speed for SF-C222 series
o Letter or legal size paper only
o 14 second first print out time
o Optional auto duplex
o No finishing options
o Comes standard with one paper drawer, and can add second for $
o 4 tandem drum design
o Polymerized toner
o Advertised as offering 2400x600dpi (not 8 bits per pixel)
o “F” models offer fax board
o “S” models offer scanning, up to 1200x1200dpi b/w or color
o Base MSRPs range from $529 to $1049.00
o Optional extended warranties do NOT includes supplies/cartridges
- BERTL gave its “Beyond 5 Star” award for reliability to the Oce’ VarioPrint 6250 production b/w system.
- In a survey of ad agencies, 37% expect business conditions in next 12 months to be excellent and better than last 12 months.
- A maker of meter tracking software, MWA Intelligence, of Scottsdale, AZ, announced it has purchased wireless technology patents from ECI2:
o MWAi’s CEO is Mike Stramaglio
o Patents include technology used in OMD and LaCrosse software. (these two companies are the most popular applications used by copier dealers to run their business)
o Technology acquired offers wireless reception of MFP and print meter reads as well as remote diagnostics.
- Riso, maker of digital duplicators, which use ink and masters instead of toner and drums, announced it will offer die-cut papers from BlanksUSA for its dealers to resell to customers:
o Due to the fact that this technology does NOT use a fuser, it can handle a wider variety of stock as compared to traditional laser MFP
o However, the print quality is poor as compared to laser
o Cost per page is low, as long as customer makes very long runs of same original
o BlanksUSA product includes:
§ Business card stock
§ Door hangers
§ Tab dividers
§ Report covers
§ Tickets
§ Table tents
§ Tags
- SMART Paper announced it will offer color copier paper precut and packaged in 13”x19” sizes for production color laser systems.
- EFI, maker of Fiery controllers, warned its investors that its financials will miss expectations. Reasons cited were that sales of high end controllers lower than anticipated (due to slow sales of Canon imagePRESS C7000VP and competition from Creo)
- A large Sharp dealer in Chicago area unveiled its own print management program, called ImageFlex.:
o Dealer is Des Plaines Office Equipment
o Goal is to capture clicks made by desktop printers of various brands
o One of the largest independent Sharp dealers in U.S.
o Also authorized to sell Kyocera printers and Okidata color printers
o Founded in 1955 by Vince Micelli, and run by son Chip
- In a recent report on TV show, “60 Minutes”, it detailed what workers coming out of college today (called Millenials) are interested in:
o “Technology Literacy” – using computers comes naturally
o “Team Spirit” – enjoy working in groups more than older workers do, due to change in public school atmosphere where “discussion pod groups” are common
o “Appreciation of Structure” – brought up being shuttled by parents from one prescheduled activity to another
o “Expectation of Feedback” – expect constant feedback from superiors
o “Expectation of Rewards” – expect raises, bonuses and promotions
o “Willingness to Walk Away” – concerned more about work/life balance than climbing a corporate ladder
o “Permanency” = this working class is here to stay
- Results of a survey conducted by National Association of Professional Organizers on organization to improve sense of well-being:
o 75% agree that e-mail has increased, not decreased, printing
o Disorganization costs business an average of $8000 per year per employee
o Employees spend equivalent of one year of their lives looking for misplaced items.
- IKON’s stock drops. The company announced that it expect earnings to fall short of previous goals:
o lower than anticipated equipment revenue
o total revenue down 1%
o professional/managed service revenue is up
o stock dropped from $17 per share to $10 per share on the news
- Kyocera announced it has purchased the patents of print controller maker, Peerless Systems of El Segundo, Cal.
o Purchase price of $37 million
o 30 employees will transfer to Kyocera
o Peerless will continue to market controller to other manufacturers, but will not pay Kyocera a royalty fee
o Rick Roll will continue as Peerless CEO
o Purchase authorized by Katsumi Komoguchi, president of Kyocera
- Computer geek finds way to spam customer’s printer using Internet:
o Aaron Weaver of Pottstown, PA
o Named; “cross site printing”
o When a user comes across a website, can make the web page automatically launch a print job on any printer attached to the user’s network
o Website could print annoying ads and waste paper, ink and/or toner
o Could also instruct MFP to send a fax, format its hard drive or download firmware
o Only works for printers and MFPs connected to a network, not attached directly to a PC
o Only an issue for PC’s, not a problem for Mac’s
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