Thursday, December 29, 2011

Top Ten Copier & MFP Industry Predictions for 2012

Whoa! What a year for the industry with the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, the floods in Thailand, the continued devaluation of the dollar vs the yen, Xerox dumps wide format, Global Imaging Systems has taken over all of the SMB business from Xerox, and major copier manufacturers finally produce their own A4 MFP systems.

Speaking of Xerox, word on the street is that Xerox may be bought (this coming from a Print4Pay Hotel Member on the forums), a recent blog stated that the dancing partners maybe HP, Dell and IBM.  You just never know in this business.  I just though about this scenario today, Dell buys Xerox and keeps ACS and then spins off the imaging division!  You never know.

Last year saw these predictions Top Ten MFP Copier Industry Predictions for 2011.  I'm not claiming to be a soothsayer, not when you get 6 out of 10 wrong, however we were right with Kodak on the verge of Bankruptcy (stock is at .65 cents), Samsung did introduce the A3 MFP in the US, it was announced in 2011 that the IKON brand will disappear in March of 2012, and Copier Manufacturers did make the move and purchased MPS related companies.

What can happen in 2012?

1.  I'll go out on a limb, Xerox will be bought by....well someone

2.  Kodak files for Bankruptcy or is bought "A picture is forever, Kodak is not"

3. Ricoh USA finally comes clean and announces that Ricoh Americas Corp has moved to Malvern, PA

4. Sharp bows out of the commercial MFP business similar to what Panasonic did three years ago, however they will still continue to market A4 devices through distributors and the web, no more dealer and direct channel.

5. Chinese Manufacturer Siene Technology introduces first MFP and looks to establish USA dealer network.

6. Toshiba Business Systems withdraws from the copier/print hardware business, instead they focus on giving the hardware away for free to capture the clicks.

7. One of the Big four Xerox, Ricoh, Canon or KonicaMinolta will buy Auxilio, who ever does takes a major leap of faith in MPS.

8. Managed Print Services......the hype continues

9. Xerox announces additional layoffs in the US

10. USA MFP Copier manufacturer sees the introduction of the first segment 5 A4 MFP.

Some of these are meant to be light hearted and have no chance of coming true, so please take some of this as entertainment and figure out what could happen and what's not going to happen.  Above all I hope you enjoyed this!

-=Good Selling=-

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very Interesting......But Stupid! Artie Johnson (Laugh in)

Unknown said...

MY mother always stated that if you don't have something good to say then don't say anything at all! So, I'm guessing you are the jealous type and probably work for one of the companies that I made my predictions with. Typical! Plus you have no sense of humor.

But, thanx for the comment!!!


Art

Anonymous said...

Art, what could possibly make you think that Sharp will stop selling in the commercial MFP business?

Unknown said...

After 32 years in the business, It's a guess and nothing more, however with the loss of McLaughlin, the lack of new products, the lack of marketing support for the MFP business, no production print, small market share, stiff competition, and no recent dealer aquisitions, means they are pretty much just managing a downward spiral for placements.

Sharp's focus and claim to fame is LCD displays, and solar technologies, check out their press releases and see when had a recent press release anthing related to MFP's. It's almost non existant. I don't see how they can hang on in this market for much longer.

Thanx for the comment!