Xerox Does WHAT with Wide Format???

One of the items I cherish about the business is that as long as you work hard,  it seems that you'll get rewarded with new opportunities that you never thought about.  Today happened to be one of those days.

Way back when in 1998 I was introduced the world of wide format copiers after I sold my Dealership and hooked up with a local Dealership that was a Xerox and Ricoh wide format reseller and service provider.  Up until the the introduction of the Ricoh 240W, I always felt like I was chasing Xerox, they just had an awesome amount of placements! 

As always ours is a changing business, Xerox Engineering was late to the market to introduce a low end digital wide format and companies like Ricoh, Oce and KIP took the offensive.

About three years ago I had heard a rumor that Xerox was going to eliminate the Xerox Engineering Division, however Xerox continued to release new machines and the rumor I heard many years ago seemed to be just a rumor.  You know these rumors, they come and go, some true some not so true.

Just a few days ago I had the chance to visit one of my accounts in Jersey who had just upgraded his two large Xerox wide format models (can't remember the model name, however it had an option to print red also) to two brand new KIP models.  He told that after he got the KIP's he had some found some serious flaws with the systems within a day and refused to sign nor verbally do the  D&A (delivery acceptance), I was told that KIP Corp had intervened to try and save the deal, however there was nothing and not even FREE that he would keep these machines. Thus, he turned to Xerox and got two of the Xerox 22ppm devices, those of us in the business are aware that the new Xerox were relabeled KIP machines, so without letting the cat out of the bag the flaw had to have been with the interface.  He is extremely happy with the Xerox machines.

Today, I opened my email and there it is "Xerox to stop selling wide format in the US and Canada in 2011", I was shocked!  Lord, how many times have I been shocked by this industry in the last few years!  I guess with the ancient rumor and that fact that Xerox was know relabeling units,  maybe the writing was on the wall! The article that I read states that Xerox will still continue to sell wide format in Europe and developing markets.

So, as shocking as it is, this has been confirmed by several sources that an announcement was made via conference call this morning format line is being discontinued when inventory is depleted.  You can read more on the P4P forums.

One blogger had asked if this was true that they were discontinued involvement in the black & white systems.  If the email that I saw is real it read "Wide Format" which would lead me to believe all of it. I had just checked the Xerox web site and there was no mention of this and I would tend to think that they would not do a press release since it would disrupt the inventory that's on hand.  One of the other statements that I read is that Xerox would still provide parts and service for 5 more years. 


North American players are now Oce/Canon, KIP and Ricoh,  who stands to gain the most from this? What a move by Canon a few months ago huh?  Like I said everyday day brings a new opportunity!

-=Good Selling=-