MFP Weekend Industry Notes from 1/28/2011

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads! If you're not a member take a trip here and register for our forums, where there are over 1,800 members and thousands of threads related to the copier/mfp industry!

- In a press conference, Ricoh’s CEO, Shiro Kondo, announced it would invest $300 million to grow its global “Managed Document Services” infrastructure, designed to “aggressively accelerate its shift to a services business model”


- Desktop laser MFP causes fire. San Diego fire department reports that a house in Rancho Bernado had $400,000 in structural damage and $200,000 worth of furniture damage due to an overheating desktop MFP. The make and model was not released.

- Toshiba announced it won contract to supply railcar parts for transit systems in Washington DC and Chicago.

- Toshiba announced it won contact to help build a $1.2 billion solar plant in Bulgaria.

- Toshiba announced it is partnering with Rolls-Royce Group to bid on nuclear power plant project in Wylfa, England.

- Toshiba announced it won contract to provide two hydroelectric generators for hydro power plant in Guanyinyang, China.

- Samsung of South Korea announced it purchased Liquavista Corp. of the Netherlands, and plans to use the company’s technology to make electronic LCD bookreaders. (to compete with Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, etc.)

- Fraser Advanced Information Systems, a Sharp/Canon/HP/Muratec/KIP dealer with locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, announced it has acquired PennLantic Corp, a managed IT services provider in Pennsylvania. Purchase price not revealed.

- Punch of Belgium announced it sold a Xeikon 8000 production color system to Bradford & Bigelow, a print shop in Massachusetts which will use the digital color press to produce school text books.

- Marvell, which makes print controllers, has been served with a patent infringement lawsuit from Advanced Processor Technologies of Frisco, Texas over a computer memory management patent.

- Conexant, maker of print controllers, has an investor that launched a putative class action lawsuit to block the company’s proposed $284 million purchase by Standard Microsystems Corp., claiming that the deal is grossly unfair to shareholders.

- Perceptive Software, a division of Lexmark, announced that its imageNOW document management software can now be integrated with Napersoft Customer Communications Management software, which automates the creation of distribution of all types of documents.

- Computhink of Lombard, IL, announced version 7.0 of its ViewWise document management software, add support for Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2.

- Okidata announced that its plant in Thailand won a Energy Service Company (ESCO) Project Award for proactive efforts to promote resource conservation.

- Van Gansewinkel Company of Germany announced the first 100% recycled office paper, claiming that no trees have to be cut down for manufacturing. It claims that Van Gansewinkel Office Paper:

o uses 83% less water when made

o requires 72% less electricity when made

o 53% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions when made

- ABBYY of Russia announced a new cloud based document management product, called ABBYY Online, and offers OCR, online dictionary & translation features.

-=Good Selling=-

ITEX 2011 to Deliver Real VALUE for All Who Attends!

ITEX 2011 to Deliver Real VALUE for All Who Attends!

In its 11th year and true to form, ITEX is geared to deliver real VALUE – from instructive education tracks on critical topics needing to be addressed (and are) by experts in their fields, to a huge exhibit floor with the newest technologies and professional services offered, to concurrent events, special workshops and forums for attendees to network at and learn from. ITEX, once again, is ideal to find viable and actionable solutions in the channel - and in a short period of time.

Power Hour EducationWithin the ITEX Power Hour education tracks you will find the most current information to translate to tactical strategies and methods to adopt. From comprehensive to essential solutions, these tracks provide the ammunition that’s needed today to effectively compete in the marketplace. Each session is presented by an industry leader who is an expert in their field and has taken significant measures to develop and deliver the most credible information available to change the course of your business. Review the education tracks online at http://www.itexshow.com./

Learn how to reposition your company’s operations and why your offerings need to become “tactical” to compete in today’s marketplace. Find software programs that offer innovative document management and processes for enhanced workflow solutions, the technologies and products that support them, the latest growth available with managed services, MPS, outsourcing and more. Learn how social networking will ramp up your marketing efforts, and what the next generation is in MNS. Do you really know what to do differently to demonstrate the value of your offerings and services? Today, it lies with how you strategically supercharge your company’s services in order to retain customers or lead prospects to your business. The type of business you promote and the components you offer in a revised business model all form the process you will ultimately implement and profit from.

The Nation’s Largest Imaging Channel Event That Captures It All:
• Over 35 Top-Grade Power Hour Sessions in 5 Essential Tracks
• MPS Strategy Forum
• In-Depth Pre-Conference Workshops
• Opening Keynote Session - back for 2011!
• Expo Floor with Hundreds of Exhibitors
• Flexible registration options to fit your time and budget
• Great ITEX Giveaway
• Presentation of the PIA Awards
• Concurrent Events
• Stay Connected the Internet Zone

ITEX 2011 Expo & Conference
March 22-23, 2011 - Washington, DC
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
*Special Pre-Conference Workshops March 21, 2011

There are a variety of conference packages to meet your time and budget. Click here to see all conference prices and packages!

Register Today for Advanced Rates & Save at http://www.itexshow.com/!

-=Good Selling=-

5 Tips to Close End of Month Copier and MFP Deals

So, for those of you who don't have bean counters that control when the end of the month closes, mine closed today. January was kind of wishy washy with three snow storms, Holiday lag and what seemed to be another overall lack of customers committing to hardware purchases or leases.  Coming down the last week of the month saw me sitting at 50%, plus I lost a deal that was signed and sealed and not yet delivered (these things happen to me also)!

Of course you have to have a plan, and it turned out that on the last day of the month I have five appointments that were worthy of closing today.  By 8:30AM, I had my first order in the bag and it was then a short trip to my second appointment.  I had seen this customer yesterday and had to come back with some revised maintenance agreements for them so that they would have all of the paperwork needed to sign.  Alas, sometimes the best laid plans of copier sales people and Administrators do not pan out.  I was promised that the signed docs would be faxed today and by the end of the day, no docs, no response to my email or phone call (maybe they left early with the another impending snow storm that was due in 18 hours). 10:15AM came out and I was in front of another customer who was also reluctant to pull the trigger on a new wide format machine, I didn't waste too much time and left the documents and stated "if you'd like to move forward, then please fax them to me".  From their I was off 12:15 lunch appointment with an existing account and after 7 months of negotiation we finally put ink on paper for two color machines!  My fifth appointment was lined up for 1:30PM and that customer also signed for another color machine. 

All in all it was a good day, I'd take three outta five all the time!!  By 2PM I was back in the office finishing up paperwork (worst, worst part of the job) and then I'm crossing my fingers that all will be approved.  I'll save the approval part on leasing for another blog.

Back to the topic, and here's my 5 points why I was able close the three deals:

1. On previous appointments and phone calls I stated my intention that we need to get this done by the 25th, it was the end of the month, I needed to write the business to stay on track with what my company requires from me.  It's honest, upfront and to the point, the customer knows you are there to get the order signed.

2. I prepared all of my paperwork the night before for all 5 accounts.

3. I had also prepared alternate sales orders just in case I was thrown a curve, too me sales is similar to chess, you always have to be thinking a couple of moves ahead and be prepared for something unexpected.

4. I made a mental list of possible objections for each and account and was prepared for them with the appropriate response (yup and I had to use two of them for two different customers).

5. I listened to the customer and clammed up after I presented a close.  Used this once, the other deals pretty much closed themselves. You always need to listen more than you talk and then you need to shut the trap after the closing statement. We all know the first person who speaks loses.

Thank goodness the month is over, alas it starts all over tomorrow and we always remember you're only as good as your last month.

-=Good Selling=-

Hewlett Packard dealer, Laser Resource of Grand Rapids, MI, announced it won....

Hewlett Packard dealer, Laser Resource of Grand Rapids, MI, announced it won managed print services contract from Metro Health. Details:

o 210 beds

o 14 regional medical centers

o Now 100% HP fleet of printers and MFPs

o Was originally spending $40,000 per month on printing, including printer cartridges, copier leases, and service/supply contracts.

o Reduced print volume from 1.7 million pages per month to 1.2 million per month

-=Good Selling=-

Kyocera TASKalfa 255 & TASKalfa 305 "Spec Review"

Kyocera (aka Kyota Ceramic Company) launched two new A3 b/w laser MFPs, called the TASKalfa 255 and TASKalfa 305 featuring:


o Are part of “SMARTtech” series or “Simple Management and Replacement Technology”

 Claims that a PM can be performed in under 10 minutes due to cartridge based, tool-free design

 PM cycle is 300,000

o advertised as offering benefits of A3 paper size, at the price of competitive A4 units

o Base MSRPs of $4679 and $5879

o Top speeds of 25ppm and 30ppm respectively

o Max duty cycles of 40K/month and 50K/month

o Very small color LCD touchscreen

o Amorphous silicon (ASi ceramic) drum with expected life of 300,000 pages

o Toner yield of 15,000 pages based on 5% coverage per page

o Waste toner receptacle with yield of 7,500 pages (unit apparently does NOT recycle toner)

o 20 second warmup time, 7.8 second first copy out time

o 600x600dpi actual print resolution (advertised as offering 1800dpi with interpolation)

o Auto duplex standard

o Maximum paper supply of 1,600 sheets

 Comes standard with 550 sheet drawer and 100 sheet bypass

 Drawers hold up to 64gsm

 Bypass can hold up to 140lb. index

o 50 sheet document feeder standard (top scan speed of 40opm)

o Shipped with no Styrofoam packing in the box

o Shipped on pallet entirely made of cardboard instead of wood

o Optional 400dpi fax board

o Built-in print controller

 667MHz IBM PowerPC processor

 USB port on control panel

 10/100/1000BaseT ports

 PCL, XPS and PostScript print drivers

 512MB RAM standard (can upgrade to 1536MB)

 No hard drive available

 IPv6 support

 Integration with MS Windows Active Directory standard

 Optional HID card reader

 Color scanning (output is only b/w)

 Scan to email with LDAP/SMB/SMTP/FTP/TWAIN

-=Good Selling=-

This Week in Canon "TWIC Notes"

Canon announced it won following awards from Buyers Labs Inc.:


o Pick of Year for IR-6075 b/w MFP

o Pick of Year for IR-6055 b/w MFP

o Outstanding Achievement For Energy Efficiency” for IR-C5051 color MFP

o Pick of Year for IC-MF5880dn desktop b/w MFP

o Pick of Year for imageRUNNER ADVANCE Essentials software

o Pick of Year for uniFLOW v5.0 software

o Pick of Year for iPF6350 color inkjet wide format printer

o Pick of Year for imageCLASS LBP6000 laser printer

o Pick of Year for MF9280Cdn desktop color MFP


Canon announced it will shift production of low-end video cameras from Japan to China to reduce manufacturing costs.

Has the consolidation begun? Canon announced that it will take over Oce’ operations in India. Employees from former Oce’ branches will now report to Kensaku Konishi, President and CEO of Canon India.


-=Good Selling=-

Copier & MFP Stuff We Found on the Web

Over on the Print4Pay Hotel forums, we've got a neat forum for "Copier Stuff We Found on the Web", that forum has been running for almost two years now and continues to be one of the more popular forums on the Print4Pay Hotel.

Here's a snap shot on some of the recent titles:

Library News  Jan 20, 7:29 PM


The board approved the copier bid for the district, Jan 19, 8:30 PM

DePauw launches improved campus print and copy system  Jan 19, 8:28 PM

MILAN: City Council to spend $24K on new office equipment  12 Jan 17, 6:02 PM

Konica Minolta Business Solutions will sell the county appraiser's office a copy mach  Jan 12, 8:35 PM

Falcon Schools save Big on Copy Machines  Jan 9, 6:40 PM

More than $5,000 in copy-machine revenue that was not deposited Jan 8, 12:43 PM

Woodlands realtors sued over office equipment  Jan 7, 9:12 PM

Sheraton on the Park- always one step ahead with the introduction of InnVu Jan 6, 5:37 PM

Weekend Industry Notes from 1/3/2010  Jan 5, 7:51 PM

Weekend MFP Industry Notes 12/29/10 Dec 29, 6:55 AM

Consider Xerox lease proposal for a copier for the Juvenile Detention Center

As you can see it's a pretty active forum and some of the threads are outlandish like the one where more than $5,000 in copier revenue was not reported and then another where the new book keeper in a dealer was spreading the wealth with creative financing, she was using the "one for you and two for me" financing methodolgy and she got caught!  As you can see nothing surprises me in the world of copiers!!

Consider your self invited for  a FREE membership the the P4P Hotel forums, click the link and it'll take you to the log in page!

-=Good Selling=-

MFP Wars "Dealer Channel vs Direct Channel"

Whichever side of the Channel you're on we've got some sizzling content posted on the Print4Pay Hotel forums in the last few days. In particular SalesServiceGuy posted and awesome document outlining 13 points "of a few things to consider" before buying from the Direct Channel. 

SalesandServiceGuy also serves up that "the statements vary in different markets and would appreciate any clarifications".  Yeah, I can agree with that, different market places equal different policies.

Here's few tidbits for ya:

1).  Except for Xerox, expect to pay .....

2)  Many National copier vendors will charge you full....

3)  Should you unexpectedly run out of toner and need a new supply the same day, most National copier vendors will....

4)  You are being offered Free Copies/ $$$ Vouchers/ TVs/ Cameras, etc. to help convince you to choose a copier vendor. Well, nothing is ......
5)  "Professional Services" fees ranging from $125.00 to $195.00 per hour are often charged.....


There are 13 of these great tips, I've got 32 years in the business and thought they were awesome!! As of today some 48 hours after the post we've had over 100 downloads of the documents.

Well, not to be done in by the Dealer Channel, we've already had a rebuttle from a member of the Direct Channel from SJM, there's a short post on the forum, however I received via email the full rebuttal with 15 points!!!! I asked SJM that they post this on the Print4Pay Hotel forums for everyone. I haven't checked in a few hours and it might already be uploaded.

I've been a dealer guy all my life, and yes I feel that the Direct Channel has an unfair advantage, however I feel that the unfair advantage has made me better because I've had to work harder at beating the competition.

When it's all said and done, both pieces are great reads and if you're in the industry these are MUST Read threads!!!

-=Good Selling=-

 

5 Tips for What to Do After an Appointment Cancels

Today I found my self a little out of sorts. I had made five appointments for the day, as the day wore on one appointment forgot and then the other had to reschedule.  Dam, I thought......., and these were probably the best appointments out of the five.

With only nine selling days left in the month and a little of extra time I found myself 6 miles from home and 28 miles from the office and 1 hour left in the day. 

What would you do?

Ok, I lost two appointments and I'm not sure when I can make those up, I've got nine days and don't have my numbers in yet.  I could do these:

• Call it a day and go home
• Go home and answer emails
• Go to the office and leave for home once I get there
• Knock on a few doors on the way home
• Knock off early, get a coffee and relax at the coffee cafe

I opted for the knocking on a few doors on my way home, plus I made sure they were accounts that I've never stopped in before.  I was able to stop at five places, the first four were typical, dropped off my card, tried to get the name of the decision maker.  What is it with securing the name of the decision maker, I tell you it's like you're asking someone to give up their first born nowadays, don't they realize I can just go to the web, or better yet do a "view source" on their web site and 8 out of ten times I can get the right contact!

So, as the saying goes "The Harder I work the Luckier I Get", the last cold call was the cream of the crop and they had interest in one of products and was willing to meet in a few days to discuss.

I could have packed it, thrown in the towel for the day, however I elected to do my job and work.  BOO HOO, to the books and the naysayers that say cold calling is dead. 

-=Good Selling=-

Copier, MFP's & Presidents Club

Another year has passed for me in the Office Equipment Industry.  I'll be starting my 32nd year in the Copier Business, with 30 of those years in "down the street" sales.

The start of a new year has always been a struggle for me, not work wise, but mentally. The end of every year includes closing as much business as you can, along with putting in an additional 20-30 hours in for the end of the month. I always remember that you're only as good as your last  month, quarter or year.  The start of the new year means that I'm starting from scratch again, and I can see why so many reps can't or don't cut it in this business, it's a grind, every day, every month, every quarter and every year.  To tell you the truth it seems like the quarters and years are starting to fly by, I can only remember a saying that life is similar to a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end of the roll, the faster it goes!

I've been fortunate in the last six months, sales have turned around somewhat even though margins are down. I was able to make the Presidents Club trip and the wife and I will be making a trip to Aruba in a few months for a few days of rest, sun, and warmth. 

One of my peeves rests on vacations in the industry and who knows it might be the same for everyone in sales.  Each and every month we have a quota (dollar amount that we need to sell).  But, what happens when you vacation?  Is it really a vacation?  What I mean is that if you've got a week or two weeks vacation do you still have to meet your monthly quota? I know I have to to, which is what sticks in my crawl, if it's really a "VACATION" then you should have a reduced quota for that month and the quarter, right?  If I'm only working three weeks then why do I till have to cram a months worth of business in three weeks? My point, it's really not a vacation to me unless my quota is reduced.  I've been preaching this for years and finally got my point across and then the company was sold and I'm back to square one again.

So, getting ready for a new year needs me to focus on some new goals:

• I don't want to be second, as Ricky Bobbie stated, if you're not first you're last!
• I need to create a deeper pipeline of accounts
• I need to focus on higher dollar amounts
• Get inspired every day!
• I want to increase by earnings by 20% in 2011

Set your goals for the new year, keep them on desk at work, and your desk at home.  Remember that you're only as good as your last sale, and you still need to prospect day in and day out, don't count on any one to give you a lead!  Do it on your own and leads will be the icing on the cake.

Happy New Year!

-=Good Selling=-

Lexmark X792 MFP "Spec Review II"

More info on new Lexmark A4 color laser MFPs, the X792 series:
o Base MSRP of $4499, fully loaded $6349
o Letter size paper maximum
o Base model footprint of 32.5”H x 22”W x 20”D (161lbs.)
o Made by Fuji (who is primary supplier of Xerox branded products)
o 4 tandem OPC drum design
o Polymerized toner
o 50ppm top speed color or b/w
o 8.5 second first color copy out time
o 10.2” full color LCD touchscreen
 Can provide audible feedback
o Analog fax board with PC fax
o 600x600dpi scan or copy
 1200x1200dpi printing (does not offer true 8 bits per pixel)
 Advertised as offering “4800 Color Quality” with interpolation
o Document feeder holds up to 75 originals
 scan speed of 49opm
 can scan both sides of original at same time
o Auto duplex standard
o Card copy mode
o Comes standard with single 550 sheet paper drawer and 100 sheet stack bypass
 Supports banner printing
 Maximum paper supply of 2,650 sheets
 Supports some glossy, card stock, labels and envelope stocks
o Choice of 6K yield of 20K yield toner cartridges
 Based on 5% coverage per page per color
o 150K/month max duty cycle (recommended max of 17K/month)
o “Eco-Mode” features reduces toner consumption (but lowers print quality)
o Finishing options include:
 Five bin mail box
 Offset stacker
 50 sheet stapling finisher
• Optional hole punch
o Built-in print controller
 Actual maker unknown
 USB & 10/100BaseT ports
• Optional 1000BaseT gigabit Ethernet
• USB port in front of device for print from and scan to features
 1.2GHz processor
 Hard drive (with data encryption, data wipe, and audit log)
 1GB RAM standard (options increase to 2GB RAM maximum)
 PCL & PostScript print drivers standard
• Optional IPDS, forms and bar code printing
 Optional proximity card reader
 Scan to email/LDAP/FTP/folder (maximum of 30 folder destinations)
 Advertised as offering “Pantone calibration” (but does not offer optional EFI Fiery or an external toner hue or density measurement device)

go here for the first "Spec Review" on the Lexmark X792


-=Good Selling=-

MFP Weekend Industry Notes from 1/04/2010

- Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, announced he is renewing his effort to sue Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay, AOL and other companies for patent infringement. The patents at issue are owned by Interval Research, which was founded by Allen and Xerox’s David Liddle in 1992.


- Pitney Bowes announced that Patrick Keddy, Executive VP and President, will retire at end of year.

- Hewlett Packard announced it sold an Indigo W7200 production color system to Schmidt Printing of Byron, Minnesota.

- Adobe Corp. reported it first billion dollar quarter. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, Adobe achieved record revenue of $1.008 billion.

- Brother announced a new promotion where customers who buy replacement ink cartridges get a free music download from EMI.

- Fuji, maker of most Xerox copiers, announced that future models will have “Smart Power Saving Technology”, where power will provided on an as needed basis. For example, if end user is scanning, then power is not supplied to print engine to save electricity.

- Impact of proposed new leasing rules studied. PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that it conducted a survey of the impact of proposed new rules that would do away with off-balance-sheet accounting for equipment leases. The study revealed that 24% of companies surveyed would experience an increase in debt of over 25%.

- Kyocera (aka Kyoto Ceramic Company) announced the following awards won:

o BLI stated that test of FS-1320D and FS-1370DN b/w laser printers delivered “flawless” reliability

o Industry Analysts Inc. gave “most reliable” rating to TASKalfa 250ci and TASKalfa 300ci color laser MFPs

o BERTL gave “Outstanding” ratings to FS-C2125MFP and FS-3140MFP

- Kyocera announced it now offers an embedded/panel integration HyPAS connector for docSTAR Eclipse document management system.

- Office Products Analyst Inc. stated that in a recent survey of 232 printshop owners:

o Kodak NexPress production color systems were rated the most reliable

o Sharp b/w MFPs (not production units) were rated most reliable

o Canon products were least reliable.

- Canon apparently is planning on selling a LCD manufacturing division to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. of Taiwan (aka Foxconn) for $1.2 billion.

- Canon announced it plans on buying controlling interest in Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. of Reno, NV, which makes lithium ion electrical energy storage systems.

- A new survey conducted by Lexmark finds that 7 out of 10 offices workers that have access to wireless connection to their printers do not use it, due to connectivity and security issues.
- According to Contextworld, the best selling desktop color laser printer in the world is the Samsung CLP-315, beating out the HP Color LaserJet CP2025n by twice as many sales.

-=Good Selling=-

Print4Pay Hotel Weekend Copier & MFP Updates! 01/03/10

Print4Pay Hotel Weekend Updates!

Want the latest & greatest threads from your peers in the copier industry?. The Print4Pay Hotel forums has logged over 40,000 page views, and 62 new members for the month of December 2010. Here's some of the threads from the last month~

Most Viewed Threads:

2011 Predictions

Rumor has it.....
How to Be Successful Selling Digital Wide Format Systems

PRESS C8000 and bizhub 423 Series Recognized

RicohLeaks

Weaknesses of other copiers



Most Interesting Threads:

Telemarketing trainers

Canon color CPP vs Ricoh color CPP

New Kyocera Musical/ Dancing/ Singing MFP Commerical

Print Audit Open Information Webinars

New Printer Breakthrough!
Posted Price Quotes:

Savin MPC2828SP
Xerox 7545
KonicaMinolta bizhub 501
Leads, RFP's & RFQ's:

Lead for RFP for 14 Copier "Expires 1/24/10"

Lead for Copier Lease in Alabama

Lead for MFP's in Delaware

RFP Lead for 337 MFP's expire "1/31/2011

Lead for 23 color copiers "due 1/13/2011"



The Print4Pay Hotel is the world's only business/social site dedicated to people who work in the office equipment industry. Go ahead log on.....become a member of the Print4Pay Hotel forums!

become informed, share and maintain your knowledge.

-=Good Selling=-

Top Ten MFP Copier Industry Predictions for 2011

What a year for the industry in 2010.   A quick review tells us that KonicaMinolta, and Ricoh added color A4 products this year, not to be out done, Sharp added A4 monochrome MFP's to enhance their A4 MFP war machine while Samsung and Xerox are holding steady with theirs, talk is Canon will also come to market in the near future with their own A4 color line.

Ready here we go!

1. Kodak will sell their Print Production Unit or be on the verge of bankruptcy

2. Samsung will buy Muratec (for the additional dealer base)

3. Samsung will intro an A3 MFP in the USA

4. The Ikon brand will disappear and all branches will be Ricoh Americas Corp
5. Kyocera, Toshiba and Sharp will merge their MFP divisions and be called TOKYO'S (lol)

6. Copier Manufacturers will acquire more Managed Print Service companies than Copier Dealers

7. Print Manufacturers will start acquiring both Copier Dealer and Manager Print Service Companies

8. Direct Branches will include 50,000 scans with a new MFP and then charge for overages.

9. SMART MFP's will replace the term MFP or MFD and Copier

10. Your guess is as good as mine!  BTW Savin and Lanier Brands will disappear also!

One for fun, GMAN becomes COO of KonicaMinola Business Solutions America

If you've got anything to add please post it here!

-=Good Selling=-

MFP Weekend Industry Notes

Special thanx to Print4Pay Hotel Members from around the world and a few moles in very good places for posting these great threads!


Take a moment and join the largest group of copier professionals in the world. Here's the link for the P4P Hotel forums!

Xerox announced it sold a DocuShare CPX Enterprise Content Management solution to The Copernicus Group Independent Review Board, which will use the system to share and store critical biomedical research documents for the Food and Drug Administration.


Xerox announced that its XMPie variable data software can now be integrated into PrintStream Fulfillment System web-to-print software from Streamline Solutions.

According to Gartner, 16% of worldwide software sales will deliver as a service. According to Saugatuck, 40% of new software sold will be cloud-based.

InfoTrends predicts that print production workflow software sales will increase 5.2% per year through 2014. By 2014, it projects the total spend in the category will be $8.6 billion.

New use for recycled paper. Nike Corp. announced a new pair of sneakers, called “Women’s Premium Print Pack”, that are made from shredded magazines.

Pitney Bowes announced it is opening up a new Federal Litigation Support Center in downtown Washington DC. Details:

o capable of scanning 500,000 pages per month

o PB already has a similar facility in Grand Rapids, MI

o Will be used to fulfill a $950 million contract it won from Dept. of Justice

o Also will support Lockheed Martin, CACI and USIS

o Includes Kodak high speed scanners

o IPRO eCapture software installed

o Clearwell ECA software

o Will have total of 50 employees covering 2 shifts

Toshiba announced it is entering the electronic book market, with its new Toshiba Biblio Leaf:

o Solar powered

o 6” b/w touchscreen display

o 800x600dpi

o 2GB RAM

o SD memory card slot

o WiFi and 3G wireless connections

o $20/month subscription

o 12 hour battery life

o Expected price of $150.00


Toshiba announced it will outsource some of its system chip manufacturing to Samsung of South Korea. This will allow the company to grow its memory chip production.

Toshiba announced it is selling its Nagasaki, Japan system chip plant, which was losing money, to Sony Corp. for $599 million. Sony will use the plant to make CMOS sensors for cell phones and digital cameras.

Toshiba launched the world’s first 3D HDTV set that does not need special 3D glasses. The 12” flat screen, called Regza GL1, will sell for $1400.00

Toshiba announced that revenue from its nuclear plant business may reach $12 billion in next 3 years

 Toshiba announced it is working on a new copier that will be a “Green” machine. Details:

o Produces instantly erasable output

o Documents can be turned blank by heating them with a special device

o Uses special toner that loses its color when heated

o Printouts can be reused at least 5 times

o Top speed of 30ppm (b/w only)

o Will cost 30% more than current 30ppm model

Canon estimates its sales in Asia to increase 40%, and that it will account for 30% of its total revenues.

Canon announced that it expects it operating profit for the fiscal year to end at $4.8 billion. This forecast is half the record levels it reached in 2007.

Canon was sued for patent violation by Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. for allegedly infringing on patents involving video compression technology.

Fitch announced it has downgraded Sharp’s debt from BBB+ to BBB, due to concerns over Sharp’s ability to sustain a 3% operating EBIT margin.

Hewlett Packard revealed that it spent $1.6 million on lobbying the federal government in the third quarter, which is twice its normal spending levels.

Hewlett Packard announced it won a managed print services contract from 3M Australia:

o reduced devices from 130 to 72

o will supposedly save $170,000 per year

o page cost reduction of 90%

o 14 sites and 700 employees

o Also included Perceptive Software document management and Adobe electronic forms solutions

Hewlett Packard detailed the success of its last 4 years of trying to put counterfeit print cartridge makers out of business:

o Conducted 4,723 investigations

o Covered 88 countries

o Resulted in 3,733 enforcement actions (raids and seizures)

o Confiscated 47.2 million cartridges
- Avatron Software announced a new $2.99 app, named Print Sharing, that allows Apple iPad, iPhoen and iPod users to print wirelessly from their mobile device.
- Lorree Ann Capps of Anderson, South Carolina was sentenced to 30 months in prison for making fake $20 bills using a color copier.

Janelle Newsome and Richard Gladfelter were arrested for allegedly creating fake $10 and $20 bills using a color copier in South Charleston, WV.

OpenText announced version 5.3 of Edocs document management software:

o support for rapid remote deployment

o maintenance can now be carried out remotely

o support for MS Office 2010

o will add social media tools and apps next year

Omtool AccuRoute received a 5 Star rating from BLI. Omtool AccuRoute is a middleware scan/OCR data capture application that competes with Nuance eCopy and NSi AutoStore, and is very popular in the legal vertical market, and sold primarily by IKON/Ricoh.

-=Good Selling=-