The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from various trade publications.The final court action in the Xerox financial fraud case was settled on 1/14/2009:
- Xerox agreed to pay $750 million settlement
- Company was charged with overstating earnings from 1997 to 2001
- Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the U.S. District Court in Hartford, CT decided that Xerox should pay $120 million in attorneys’ fees plus $3.3 million in costs
More details on last quarter’s financials from Xerox:
- Stock down to $7 per share
- Total revenue down 10% to $4.4 billion
- Profit of only $1 million
- Paid legal costs (see above)
- Spent $296 million on severance packages for 3,400 laid off workers
- Now employs a total of 51,700 worldwide
- Projecting it will end its year with $800 million in cash
- Projects $7.6 billion in debt
- Service revenue down 8%
- Supply revenue down 11%
- FM revenue up 3%
Xerox sent out an e-mail ad campaign to boost sales of its MFPs. Details:
- $128/month for a Xerox 7232C color MFP
- $102/month for a Xerox 5632 b/w MFP
- Chance to win a 40” Sony HDTV flat screen
A Ricoh dealer, The Woodburn Company, of Seattle, Washington, won a $1.8 million bid renewal from Nordstroms department store.
- Covered 180 locations in 27 states
- Over 360 copiers
- Owners of Woodburn are Frank and Penny Fukui who bought company from Jack Woodburn
- Dealership has a total of only 4 service technicians
Ricoh announced it will offer optional embedded solutions from Pharos Systems. Pharos makes account tracking software, named “Pharos Blueprint” and “Pharos Uniprint”.
IKON, a division of Ricoh, announced it will have a large booth at the upcoming LegalTech Show in New York to increase its sales to law firms.
BLI recently issued a review of some of the copier manufacturers’ customer satisfaction guarantees:
- Kyocera = 3 years
- Oce’ = 5 years or length of lease
- Sharp = 3 years
- Toshiba = 3 years or length of lease
- Xerox = 3 years or length of lease
Toshiba claims that it has signed up 60 of its dealers for its Encompass managed print services program, based on FM Audit software.
Toshiba, in a cost cutting move, announced it will close several computer chip plants in Japan due to declining sales. During last quarter, its net profit declined 45%. It will record a loss of 280 billion yen.
NEC reported that it will lay off 20,000 workers worldwide to cut costs. Some reporters are claiming that it may merge with Toshiba.
A Kyocera dealer, Eicholtz Company, won a bid from Adams County, Pennsylvania. Details:
- county has 45 copiers
- included DocStar document management
- KM-2560 b/w copiers for $109/month with clicks @ $0.005 each
- KM-C3225 color copiers for $118/month with b/w clicks @ $0.0089 and color clicks @ $0.05.
Sharp & Samsung are still battling in court over patents regarding LCD high definition TV sets. In the latest ruling, Samsung seeks to prevent Sharp from selling LCD products in the U.S.
DocuWare won a bid to supply its document management software to the Roanoke Valley Detention Center in Roanoke, Virginia. In addition, it also won award for Sigma Financial of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
A European company named “Visivo” was founded to help end user companies determine if they are being overcharged by copier companies.
- Run by Henrik Lundsholm, the company claims to have helped large companies like DHL and Sanofi Aventis Group.
- Visivo uses PrinterRx meter collection software to provide an advisory service to customers who feel that they are paying too much for service and supplies for their printers and copiers.
- Visivo claims that in some cases, it assists its customers in suing their copier/printer vendors in order to break or renegotiate contracts.
- Also is hired to assist in creating RFPs and conducting bids.
Destiny Arnold, Dontez Yeager, Earnest Moore, Marcus Id-Deen and Tommy Robinson were all arrested in Akron, Ohio, after they were caught making counterfeit $50 bills on a color copier.
Sandy Alexander Inc., a print shop in New Jersey, announced it has purchased 2 seven color Hewlett Packard Indigo 7000 production color systems. Top speed of 120ppm.
A Canadian newspaper reports that Hewlett Packard is downsizing its Vancouver, Canada operation, which is the headquarters for its Edgeline color inkjet MFPs. The Edgeline project will now apparently move to Singapore. (will it disappear entirely?) Comments made about the Edgeline at the recent Lyra Research convention:
- “The Edgeline has had no success at all”
- “objective failure”
Panasonic announced that it will close factories in the Philippines and Malaysia due to declining sales.
Computer printer maker, TallyGenicom, announced that it is filing bankruptcy, and its assets will be acquired by printer maker Printronix.
Lexmark announced that during last quarter, its profits dropped from 82% to $18.1 million. Printer sales were down 29%.
Kodak announced it will layoff an addition 1,300 in a cost cutting move. It will report a loss of $137 million.
EFI, maker of Fiery print servers, reported a loss of $100 million during last quarter.
A company named PlanOn, launched the world’s smallest page printer. The FS910 PrintStick offers:
- is only 1” H x 10.75” W x 1.9” D
- sells for $299
- uses thermal technology where a print head applies heat to specially treated paper to create image
- USB port
- Weighs 1.5 pounds
- Support BlueTooth wireless technology
- Built-in lithium-ion battery
- Top speed of 3ppm letter size pages
- Self-contained cartridge holds roll of thermal paper for 20 pages
- Paper rolls sell for $24.99 for pack of three
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