WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
12-1-07
The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.
- Brother launched two new desktop color laser MFPs, the DCP-9040CN and DCP-9045CDN featuring:
o DCP-9040CN
§ Base MSRP of $599.00
§ Letter size paper only
§ 21ppm b/w or color top print speed
§ 17ppm b/w or color top copy speed
§ Single 250 sheet paper drawer
§ 35 sheet original document feeder
§ 2 line LCD display
§ Black toner yield of 2,500 pages for $60.00 based on 5% coverage per page
§ Cyan, magenta & yellow toner cartridges each yield 1500 pages, based on 5% coverage, and sell for $70.00 each
§ OPC drum unit has yield of 17,000 pages for $199.99
§ Mylar film transfer belt has yield of 50,000 pages for $129.90
§ Waster toner receptacle has yield of 20,000 pages for $24.99
§ 64MB RAM
§ 2400x600dpi (2 bits per pixel)
§ 10/100BaseT and USB ports
§ Can use USB port to print directly from thumb drive, memory stick or digital camera
§ PCL and PostScript emulations standard
§ Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplies
o DCP-9045CDN
§ Same as DCP-9040CN plus the following:
§ Base MSRP of $699.00
§ 50 sheet original document feeder
§ Letter or legal size paper only
§ Auto duplex
§ 128MB RAM
§ 5 line LCD display
§ 128MB RAM
§ Can add second drawer which holds 500 sheets
- Hewlett Packard announced it has won a bid, along with dealer CACI International, to supply 4,000 printers to The Office of the Secretary of Defense. The value of the contract is $30 million.
- Hewlett Packard announced it will resell Kofax document management software to offer as an option with its MFPs.
- EFI, maker of Fiery print servers, announced it has invested in Raster Printers, which is another maker of inkjet wide format color print systems, under the name “Daytona”.
- Okidata, in an effort to boost sales of its desktop color LED page printers, announced it is reducing the selling price of toner cartridges that work with the C8800 and C6000 series by 25%. Okidata is now advertising an average color cost per page on the C8800 of $0.091 and $0.10 for the C6000. Of course, this pricing is based upon a page that only has 5% coverage per color.
- Punch Graphix of Belgium, maker of Xeikon high speed color LED production color systems, announced it has hired an executive from Kodak. Mike Ring is the new Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Business Development for the Xeikon product, and was formerly a VP at Kodak for the NexPress.
- Konica Minolta purchased a dealer in Greece, named C. Vlachopoulos SA.
- Ricoh announced new versions of its optional document management software. The Ricoh ScanRouter software, which is sold as an option for its Aficio digital copier/MFPs, now offers:
o ScanRouter EX Professional
§ New options for delivering files
§ New security features
§ Print Delivery feature to send jobs to network printers
§ Scan to searchable PDF, PNG, JPG or TIFF files
§ Send to e-mail, folder, in-tray, FTP server
o ScanRouter EX Enterprise
§ Custom file naming
§ Designated support for up to 100 devices
§ Scan directly to Microsoft SharePoint Portal servers
§ Scan directly to Lotus Notes databases
§ Integrated Adobe LiveCycle rights management software package to allow users to set and reset policiesat document level using touch screen control panel
- Fujitsu now shipping a desktop color scanner, the FI-6000NS offering:
o 25opm top speed (scans both sides of original at the same time)
o Full keyboard and 8.4” large color LCD touch screen control panel
o Preview images on LCD display
o Scan to e-mail/network folder
o Network fax support
o Scan to PDF
o 600x600dpi
o 50 page document feeder
o Uses a CCD scan array
o Ultrasonic double feed detection
o Handles originals 8.5” x 34” maximum
o Embossed card scanning capability
o Auto image quality adjustment
o Auto color detection
o Auto image orientation detection
o Auto paper deskewing
o Auto size detection
o Auto blank page detection/removal
o Base MSRP of $3195.00
o Come with exchange warranty (no on-site service, must ship-back for repair or replacement)
- More companies are working on creating high speed, high quality, color inkjet technologies to rival color laser.
o Panasonic accounced it has developed a piezo crystal, roof mode actuator printhead technology. (the roof of the ink chamber squeezes out the ink from the chamber through the piezo crystal nozzle)
§ 18.66” wide array, using multiple heads to cover 13”x19” sheet
§ Each array has 29 printheads
§ Each printhead has 800 nozzles
§ 600x600dpi
§ Top speeds of 150 meters per minute, or 75 meters per minute in high quality mode
§ Faster speed than any other current technology
§ Miyakoski of Japan, and Impika of France, plan to introduce printers using this Panasonic (Matsu****a) technology
o Kodak announced it is working on a new drop on demand technology, called STREAM, and hope to show prototype next year.
- Allegra, a chain of print shops, announced it implement EasyPurl software in its locations. This variable data software, generates an individual personalized website for each recipient of a color direct mailer. When the end user receives the mailer, rather than calling, faxing or mailing, they simply go to a website that uses their name, to respond to the offer.
- Motorola announced it has axed its CEO, Edward Zander, and replaced him with Greg Brown.
- NEC announced that it will relabel two more copier/MFPs as it struggles to create demand for its little known brand name, and small group of dealers in the U.S.:
o The Kyocera KM-8030 will be called the NEC IT8030
o The Konica Minolta bizhub C253 will be called the NEC IT25C5
- Rochester Software Associates (RSA) will conduct a seminar on the use of its solutions in Tucson. It will feature the contract it won with American Fidelity Insurance using MIS Print, QDirect and WebCRD applications. This allows customer to convert mainframe data streams, manage the documents, and allow for web-based print job submission. American Fidelity claims that this new solution saved the company over $7 million over three years.
- Canon announced it has paid the PGA Tour so that it can be named the official PGA Tour copier provider. The agreement lasts until 2010.
- Canon announced it will spend 80 billion yen to build a new toner plant in Hita, Oita Prefecture in southwest Japan.
- DANKA announced that its stock will be delisted from the American Depositary Shares from the NASDAQ Capital Market and move them to the OTC Bulletin Board, as it was not in compliance with the stockholders equity, market value and net income requirements. The stock is still listed on the London stock exchange.
- Where does DANKA still have offices (after consolidation):
o Los Angeles, CA Bakersfield, CA Irvine, CA San Diego, CA
o Baltimore Richmond, VA Washington DC Tallahassee, FL
o Jacksonville, FL Miami, FL Mobile, AL Orlando, FL
o Sarasota, FL St. Petersburg, FL Atlanta, GA Birmingham, AL
o Chicago Kansas City, KS Minneapolis, MN St. Louis, MO
o Boston, MA Cleveland, OH Hartford, CT Pittsburgh, PA
o Stamford, CT Denver, CO Seattle, WA Portland, OR
o Sacramento, CA San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Jamesburg, NJ
o New York City Philadelphia, PA Rochester, NY Columbus, OH
o Detroit, MI Memphis, TN Las Vegas, NV Tucson, AZ
o Phoenix, AZ Albuquerque, NM Dallas, TX Houston, TX
o San Antonio, TX Tulsa, OK Corpus Christi, TX Amarillo, TX
o Lubbock, TX Charleston, SC Charlotte, NC Knoxville, TN
o Chattanooga, TN Nashville, TN Charleston, WV Raleigh, NC
- After announcing it was buying back stock, IKON’s share price rose from $10.62 to $12.40. However, Moody’s is placing the company under review for possible downgrading of its credit rating.
- CVI Digital Solutions, a Kyocera & Savin dealership in Denver, announced it will now also carry the Sharp product line. Sharp was looking for another dealer since its largest in Denver, Lewan & Associates, was purchased by Xerox. President is Scott Real.
- TAK Imaging, maker of generic print controllers for copier/MFPs, announced that due to financial difficulties, it will sell out to inSilica Corp., of Santa Clara, CA. TAK Imaging joins a long list of print controller vendors who are no longer in the industry (MGI, Colorbus, ColorStar, DICE, Splash, etc.) Besides EFI Fiery, others that remain include Peerless, Zoran, Marvell, SigmaTel, etc.
- Samsung of Korea announced that it is building a laser printer plant in north Vietnam, in order to cut down on labor costs.
- Hewlett Packard announced it will spend $8 billion to repurchase stock shares.
- In a survey of VARs (computer dealers), asking for what their best selling computer peripherals are:
o Scanners
§ Fujitsu = 36.2%
§ Canon = 16.2%
§ Hewlett Packard = 14.7%
§ Kodak = 4.8%
o Desktop MPF printers
§ Hewlett Packard = 61.7%
§ Lexmark = 11.4 %
§ Xerox = 9%
§ Brother = 7.2%
§ Canon = 5.5%
o Desktop Color Laesr Printers
§ Hewlett Packard = 57.5%
§ Xerox = 24.2%
§ Lexmark = 8.7%
§ Okidata (LED) = 3.8%
§ Ricoh = 3%
- According to an IT magazine, the top myths of the computer industry are:
o Tom Watson, former president of IBM, said; “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers”. No evidence to support this.
o The British invented the first true computer. Instead, the Germans invented the Konrad Zuse Z3 and Iowa State University invented the Atanasoff Berry.
o Jack Kilby invented the transistor in his own lab. In fact, in 1958, he was employed by Texas Instruments.
o Xerox invented the mouse. In fact, Douglas Engelbart invented it while employed for Augmentation Research Center, just down the street from Xerox’s PARC center, which then adopted it on their prototype Xerox Star computer.
o Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, stole technology from Xerox to create the Macintosh. In reality, Xerox invited Mr. Jobs to see their technology, in exchange for shares in his company.
o IBM wanted to make Gary Kildall rich with invention of PC, but he ducked out of a meeting so IBM went to Bill Gates instead. Gary Kildall, founder of Digital Research, and the CP/M operating system, took off in his own plane to deliver a large order of software for a customer, leaving his wife in charge. IBM did not want to wait for him to return, so they went to see Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, and gave him contract for DOS, which became Windows.
o SAP’s rise to prominence was unstoppable. In reality, the company was formed in 1972 by 5 former IBM workers in Germany, and struggled until 1992, when Klaus Besier came to the U.S. to head up the North American division, and sales took off. His famous line was; “It is better to ask forgiveness than permission”
- In an article in Graphic Arts Technical Foundation’s (GATF) magazine, the three types of high speed color inkjet technology were discussed, and the manufacturer’s that own patents related to this technology were listed:
o Thermal Inkjet (aka bubblejet, DeskJet, DesignJet)
§ Hewlett Packard
§ Canon
§ Lexmark
o Piezo Crystal
§ Epson
§ Fuji
§ Brother
§ Xaar
§ Konica Minolta Corporation
§ Toshiba TEC
§ Panasonic (Matsu****a)
§ Hewlett Packard (from Scitex acquisition)
o Continuous Ink
§ Kodak (through acquisition of IRIS)
§ Domino
§ Videojet
§ Hitachi
- Better Buys For Business magazine announced its Editors Choice awards for High Volume MFPs: (remember that unlike BLI, this company does not have a testing lab)
o 50-59ppm category
§ Canon IR-5055
§ Kyocera KM-5050 (aka Copystar CS-5050 & NEC IT5050)
§ Xerox WorkCentre 5050
o 60-69ppm category
§ Canon IR-5065
§ Sharp MC-M620 (aka Duplo Docucate MD-621N)
§ Ricoh Aficio MP6500 (aka Lanier LD265, Savin 8065)
§ Xerox WorkCentre 5665
o 70-84ppm category
§ Canon IR-5075
§ Ricoh Aficio MP7500 (aka Lanier LD275, Savin 8075)
§ Xerox WorkCentre 5675
o 85-99ppm
§ Konica Minolta bizhub PRO 920 (aka Oce’ imagistics im9220)
§ Sharp MX-M850, MX-M950
§ Toshiba eSTUDIO 850 (aka Oce’ imagistics im8530 & Panasonic DP8540)
§ Xerox WorkCentre 5687
o 100-135ppm category
§ Konica Minolta bizhub PRO 1050e (aka IKON PrintCentrePro 1050 Plus)
§ Canon IR-7105
§ Ricoh Aficio MP1100 & MP1350 (aka InfoPrint 2210, Lanier LD1110/1350, Savin 8110/8135 & Toshiba eSTUDIO 1101/1351)
o 90-135ppm (super high volume models)
§ Oce VarioPrint 2090, 2100, 2110 (Titanium series)
§ Xerox 4112 & 4127
- A former Xerox HQ building in Stamford, CT, was filled with smoke so that the local fire department could practice high rise rescue techniques in the empty 255,000 square foot office.
- Scott Friedlander left Xerox after 19 years to become President and COO of GTSI Corp.
- A graphic arts magazine in Europe, Computer Bild, is giving all its readers a free trial version of DirectSmile variable data software to boost sales.
- Konica Minolta Corp. in Japan announced it is spending 12 billion yen to build a new LCD film plant in Kobe. The move is aimed at meeting growing demand for the film used in HDTV LCD televisions, notebook computers and cell phones.
- Ricoh announced it will sponsor a new program on CNN called “The Boardroom”, a weekly business show.
- Ricoh announced more organizational changes:
o Susumu “Sam” Inioka, current Chairman and CEO of Ricoh in the U.S., is returning to Japan for an un-named position
o Norihisa “Nori” Goto, current President of Ricoh U.S., will become Chairman and CEO
o Matin Brodigan, former president of Ricoh Canada, is now CFO of Ricoh U.S.
o Glenn Laverty, current Executive VP of Ricoh Canada, is now President of Ricoh Canada
o Kyoji “Ken” Tokuhiro, current General Manager, Business Strategy & Planning, at Ricoh Japan, is now same position for Ricoh U.S., replacing Sam Hosoe, who is returning to Japan.
o Kuni Minakawa, CFO of Ricoh U.S., is returning to Japan
o Hideaki “Hugh” Urabe, Senior VP of Marketing for Ricoh U.S., is now President of Ricoh Latin America, replacing Kiyohshi’Kiyo” Shimizu, who is now VP of Channel Development Strategy
o Yoshimi Kobayashi will become Senior VP of Corporate Marketing for Ricoh U.S.
- Peerless Corp., maker of generic print controllers (not the faucet maker), reported its latest financials:
o net income of $1.3 million
o $7.4 million revenue, down 7.5%
o Largest customer is still Kyocera
o Gross margin of 60.1%
o R&D costs of $1.3 million
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