Saturday, January 6, 2007

Ikon aligns with Kyocera

Ikon aligns with Kycoera for three different mfp solutions. Ricoh and Canon will feel the pinch along with many dealers that do not sell the Kyocera line. Kyocera's TCO is one of the lowest in the industry.

Ten years ago I sold Mita products and thought they were ok, nothing superior and always doubted thier reliabilty and longevity.

Heck, Kyocera Dealers have got to be beside themselves with this move. The dealers are the sole reason for the re-emergence of the Kyo line, they stuck with the product and kept placing boxes all these years and now Kyocera slaps them in the face. It's all about moving boxes isn't it?

Now, Ikon's job will get tougher. I think they deal with three different manufacturers now and will have to get reps, techs and CE's upto snuff on the machines, software and features. This will not be an easy task for Ikon unless they are thinking of dumping Ricoh or Canon (which I doubt).

I'll see how it shakes out with Ikon, what I do know is that selling against thier Kyo product will be pretty easy. One point I will hit on is service, where they have always been shaky, so how can they support another manufacturer with three new models in an expert fashion. I don't think they can.

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