Weekend Copier Notes from 3/23/08

WEEKEND MFP INDUSTRY NOTES
3-24-08

The following is a quick review of copier/MFP industry news from industry publications.



- Customers were invited to smash a copier for charity. The Mailbox IT store, in Springfield, MO, announced a “Bash a Copier” contest. Proceeds from ticket sales, for opportunity to take a swing at an old copier, go to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

- According to The Industry Measure, printshops plan on spending $22.9 million in 2008 on wide format color inkjet printers (like Epson).

- Ricoh’s President of worldwide operation, Shiro Kondo, gave out details on its financials:
o predicting increase in worldwide sales of 11% between now and end of fiscal 2011
o predicting total worldwide sales this fiscal of 2.5 trillion yen ($26 billion)
o key driver will be sales of production print devices to commercial printers
o will spend a total of $725 million to finish acquisition of IBM’s printer division by 2010
o IBM sold $1 billion worth of printers in 2006
o Has paid a total of $210 million for the European branches of DANKA
o Operating profit will increase worldwide 7.8%
o Projections for this year are less than targets that Ricoh published earlier as part of its 3 year plan
o “Our business in the U.S. is the hardest-hit” stated Ricoh’s worldwide CFO, Zenji Miura
o Other comments from CEO, Shiro Kondo:
 “we will comprehensively revise our current research and development system”
 “we can no longer increase our competitiveness simply by satisfying customers”
 “what matters now is how we make our products and services represent values that inspire customers”
 “transform process to creating rather than making”
 Will set up a “marketing strategy office” on 4/1/08 in Japan to explore market needs from a long-term point of view.
 “we can’t develop new products and services only by asking customers what they want….we will research the issues and needs that the customers themselves don’t even fully understand and propose new values and services”
 Plans to undertake large-scale restructuring as early as July of this year
 Slower-than-expected sales of its GelSprint inkjet printer/MFP products
 “focusing on profitability in the 16th plan”
 Aiming to make up for the loss in profits that came about as a result of its downsizing
 Will reorganize its businesses and cut personnel if necessary

- X-Rite/Pantone Corp, launched the “ColorMunki”, details:
o Base MSRP of $499.99
o Includes spectrophotometer & software
o Can calibrate monitor or printer
o Can create ICC profiles
o USB connection
o Create custom color palettes

- Canon announced it will shut down development of a rear-projection HDTV television set. It had shown to investors a 64” wide prototype in 2005, but it never came to market. It still hopes to launch an SED HDTV later this year. Unknown how much R&D was wasted on this latest project to diversify away from the printer/MFP market.

- Canon won an editors choice award from Better Buys For Business magazine for its imagePRESS C7000VP in the high volume color category.

- Toshiba admitted it wasted $986 million in R&D on the now unsuccessful HDTV DVD players that were pulled from the market.

- Kodak announced it sold a NexPress M700 to a print shop in Ohio. The M700, which is a relabeled Canon imagePRESS C7000VP, was placed at Flying Colors Press Inc. of Toledo, OH.

- Kodak announced new optional modules for its Marketmover package, which is an option provided to production color system owners, to assist them in marketing and selling the output from these devices. The new modules are:
o Selling to Financial Services
o Selling to Education

- The number of Internet users in China has surpassed the U.S. By end of 2008, there will be 280 million users in China.

- The Pew Internet Survey reveals how people use their mobile connected handheld devices/PDAs:
o 58% send/receive text messages
o 58% take pictures
o 19% send/receive e-mail
o 19% access news via Internet
o 18% record videos
o 17% send/receive instant message
o 14% get maps/directions
o 10% watch videos

- DANKA is subletting some of its downtown St. Petersburg, FL offices to Bankers Insurance to cut costs.

- The largest printshop in the world opened in Broxbourne, England. Details:
o Owned by News Corp.
o It is the size of 23 football fields
o Has 12 full color offset presses
o Can print 330,000 tons of newsprint per year

- Kern Corp. is now shipping the EasyMailer 515 which offers:
o Offline device with MSRP of $199,400.00
o Takes up to three sheets of printed paper, cut, folds, wraps and seals the completed job into a newly created mail-ready envelope
o Works with common paper stocks

- Okidata launched a new high speed b/w laser printer, the B930 series offering:
o Actually made by Fuji of Japan, and also sold with Xerox name on it
o Essentially a print-only version of the Xerox WorkCentre Pro b/w copiers
o Top speed of 50ppm b/w
o 600MHz processor
o 256MB RAM
o Up to 11”x17” paper
o Optional finishing, including staple, booklets and hole-punch
o Base MSRP of $2790.00
o Optional extended warranties do NOT include supplies

- Sharp announced it has acquired Charlotte Copy Data, a dealer with locations in the Carolinas. Details:
o Former owner is Kal Kardous
o All 9 locations will become Sharp branches
o Tim Renegar is named Executive VP of all locations
o 280 employees
o Founded in 1988
o $47 million in sales in 2007
o Locations in Charlotte, Asheville, Fayetteville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh, Hickory, Gastonia and Greenville-Spartanburg
o Was authorized for Konica Minolta, Canon, HP & Sharp
o Purchase price not disclosed



- Adobe Corp. reported its worldwide financials for last quarter:
o Profits rose 52% to $219.4 million
o Revenue up 37% to $890.4 million
o New CEO is Shantanu Narayen said; “We are not immune to any type of recessions, were one to come, and we are keeping our eye on the U.S. business”
o Expects at end of year that revenue growth will only by 13% (as compared to 37%)

- Toshiba announced it is now offering software solutions from Ringdale Inc.
o Product is called “FollowMe”
o Offers secure document output management
o Requires users to authenticate before retrieving print jobs
o Support for biometric devices, proximity cards, magnetic swipe cards, smart cards, PIN codes and barcodes

- Toshiba announced it will resell solution software from Rochester Software Associates (RSA) as options for its production print devices (which are primarily relabeled Ricoh made product)

- Toshiba, which previously announced it would resell high-speed desktop scanners from Fujitsu, recently announced which models that its dealers and factory direct branches would be marketing:
o Fujitsu FI-5120C
 Top speed of 50opm for b/w, 25opm for color
 b/w or color
 600x600dpi
 50 page document feeder
o FI-5220C
 Flatbed scanner with 50 page document feeder
 50opm top speed for b/w, 25opm for color
 b/w or color
 600x600dpi
o FI-5650C
 114opm top speed in b/w, 57opm for color
 300x300dpi
 Can handle 8,000 documents per day
o FI-5900C
 120opm top speed b/w or color
 Can scan both sides of original at same time (240opm)
 500 sheet document feeder
 300x300dpi
o FI-6000NS
 25opm top speed b/w or color
 Can scan both sides of original at same time (50opm)
 600x600dpi
 Auto image quality adjustment
 Auto color detection
 Auto image deskewing
 Auto paper size detection
 Auto blank page detection and removal
 Large touch screen LCD display
 50 page document feeder, which can handle ID cards



- Punch Graphix of Belgium launched the new Xeikon 8000 production color system offering:
o 244 letter size images per minute top speed full color (or 122 sheets per minute)
o 1200x1200dpi (4 bits per pixel)
o 8.5 million per month duty cycle
o Has two in-line densitometers for automatic color calibration
o Up to 512milimeter wide paper handling (504mm max wide image area)
o Uses rolls of paper only
o Uses 8 tandem OPC drums (4 on each side of the paper, so machine can image both sides of the paper with CMYK at the same time)
o Can add a fifth imaging unit for a spot color
o Uses dry toner, with no fuser oil
o Uses LED, not Laser technology
o Up to 350gsm paper weight handling (slows down to 70ipm for this stock)
o Optional auto paper cutter with stacker, or paper roll rewinder
o Uses an external Xeikon X-800 print server that supports PPML variable data
o MSRP not announced