Weekend MFP Industry Notes

1-4-09 Special Thanx to all for these notes:

The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.

Canon announced that Bill Joseph is no longer with the company. He spent 33 years with Canon, most recently in charge of most factory direct branch locations on the west coast. A replacement has not yet been made. (Canon continues to make changes to its direct sales division, as it struggles to make up for lost sales through IKON and DANKA)

Due to the change in the yen to dollar conversion, corporate officials from both Canon and Sony have stated their intention to raise prices in 2009 to make up for lost profits. Canon’s Ryoichi Bamba stated that the currency exchange “is a 30 per cent cost increase for us. Maybe 10 per cent we can absorb through higher productivity, 10 per cent from higher prices, and 10 per cent from cuts to our own costs and profits.” (unknown how this will affect selling prices of Canon MFPs and printers)

Canon gave out a few more details on its upcoming new production b/w systems, the imagePRESS 1110, 1125 & 1135:
- 110, 125 & 135ppm speeds respectively
- Actually made by Canon
- Will not replace the current Kodak-made models that Canon offers (imageRUNNER PRO 7110VP, 7125VP, 7138vp & 7150vp) that run up to 150ppm
- Base MSRPs are $80,000, $92,000 & $110,000
- Have document feeder that scans both sides of original at same time
- While output is only b/w, the device can scan in color
- Comes standard with 2,000 sheet paper supply
- Maximum of 14,000 sheet paper supply with options
- Uses finishing options from the existing imagePRESS C7000VP color model
- Will use a transfer belt for imaging
- Controller choices range from embedded generic unit, EFI Fiery and EFI MicroPress

A large electronics chain lets go of one of its executives. Fry’s Electronics, which sells a wide array of technology, including desktop laser MFPs, was forced to fire Vice President, Omar Siddiqui, who is accused of a $65 million fraud to pay off gambling debts. His bank records show he spent $121 million in just three years at the MGM Grand and the Venetian casinos in Las Vegas.

The Secret Service reports catching more folks who make fake money using a color MFP. Recent busts include:
- A 15 year old boy was caught using fake money to buy lunch in school cafeteria
- In Moultrie, GA, a man was caught making fake $20 and $100 bills and using at local restaurants
- Nationwide, arrests jump 28% in 2008

In a survey of computer/VAR dealers by Business Solutions magazine, Cabinet NG Inc. was named as the “Best Channel Vendor” for document management software solutions. Their products include Retriever, Synchronizer and CNG-API. For more info, visit www.cabinetng.com

Both Gartner Inc. and Forrester Research have issued reports predicting lower IT spending in 2009.

Sharp announced it will record a loss of more than 50 billion yen ($555 million) due to its 14% stake in struggling Pioneer Corp.

Toshiba, which earlier announced its intentions to make a nuclear reactor that would fit in a small closet, announced that it will give one of these for free to a small, remote ski resort in Alaska. Toshiba is waiting for federal government approval in late 2009, before it can ship or market this new Toshiba 4S nuclear technology.

Toshiba announced it will spend “several tens of billions” of yen to build a battery factory in northern Japan. It hopes to start shipping its “Super Charge Ion Battery” in 2010.

Toshiba announced that it will apparently be the first MFP vendor to release its own homegrown software connectors for software embedded into its MFPs. One connector is for Microsoft Exchange, and the other is for Microsoft SharePoint. (this means that Toshiba will de-emphasize its reliance on eCopy)

Western Digital announced it will NOT buy the hard drive business of Fujitsu Ltd. of Japan due to current economic conditions.

In a recent survey of printshops, when asked if they offer variable data digital printing, only 44% responded affirmatively, and of those only 82% produce it in full color. (obviously, there is still a lot of opportunity in providing digital color solutions to PFP)
- In the same survey, only 36% of the shops have a web-based print job submission tool
- 45% prefer to acquire their equipment from a factory direct branch
- For shops that have:
- b/w copier under 70ppm, the average monthly volume is 14K/mo
- b/w copier over 70ppm, the average monthly volume is 96K/mo
- office color MFP, the average monthly volume is 4K/mo
- graphics color MFP, the average monthly volume is 22K/mo
- light production color MFP, the average monthly volume is 44K/mo

According to survey of printshops conducted by PIA, shop owners have increased their pricing by an average of 1.6%.

Ricoh launched a “Canon/Xerox ATTACK!” program where it provides dealers and branches with funding to assist in upgrading Canon or Xerox competitive equipment to new Ricoh product.

Ricoh announced that IBM agreed to open up its sales network for Ricoh office equipment. This means that the companies will jointly market Ricoh printers and MFPs along with IBM computers, servers and software to IBM and Ricoh customers. Ricoh hopes that this will add $1.1 billion in sales in the next two to three years worldwide. (is Ricoh preparing to fight a possible future alliance between Canon & Hewlett Packard?)

Acacia Research, a firm that buys obscure patents, announced it has forced Oce’ to pay a license fee for a patent it owns pertaining to network multifunction printer technology. The dollar amount was not released. Other companies that have already settled with Acacia are; HP, Samsung, Brother, Epson, Muratec, Okidata, Panasonic & Toshiba. Acacia reports that its total annual collections are up 45% to $13.8 million per year.

Oce’ announced that it will resell its trade-in copiers, after refurbishing, and call them “Premia Class” models.

Lexmark is launching a new strategy to increase its color laser printer and MFPs. It is adding a new product line that has a higher selling price, but lower color cartridge prices. Details:
- The existing Lexmark C782 models sell for $1299, $1599 & $1999 depending on configuration
- The new Lexmark C782XL models are identical, and sell for $1999, $2299 & $2599, but have color cartridges that are 50% lower in price.
- Lexmark is advertising the new models as “color same price as black/white”, as the color cartridges sell for $199.99 each just like the b/w cartridge