Panasonic - Color, color MFP's Do Not Stop a 3.9 Billion Dollar Slide

Panasonic/Matsushita provided the rumor mill even more reason to suggest that Panasonic may get out of the copier market all together.

Rueters reports Panasonic Corp (6752.T) will report a consolidated net loss after tax of about 350 billion yen ($3.89 billion) in fiscal 2008/09 due to restructuring charges and weak sales of consumer electronics.

This will be Panasonic's first loss in six years, and the biggest since the firm posted a 430 billion yen net loss for the business year that ended in March 2002.

Interestingly, at last week's 2009 Lyra Symposium, Panasonic did not make the roster of copier companies analyzed.

It is not known how much the copier side of Panasonic contributed to the loss.

Printer Industry News: Managed Print Services… Staying the Course – Or Changing the Game?

Great Post from Ed.

Hardware Agnostic, Service based vs. Equipment Based...Printer Industry News: Managed Print Services… Staying the Course – Or Changing the Game?: "In reality, a services business model cannot be commoditized. If a firm is offering differentiated service with significant value add, then there is no way to become commoditized. However, if the firm is wrapping a CPC program around hardware and calling it MPS, this can absolutely become commoditized. But this is also a hardware-centric business model, not a professional services-centric model."

Consolidation - Off go the Mega Dealers...

At the 2009 Lyra Symposium, one of the more prevalent discussion, both on and off stage was consolidation - the more exciting consolidation topics were the possibilities between the manufacturers.

Of course the topic turned to the few remaining independents and the "Mega Independent" dealers.

This week, Xerox, through GIS, acquired one of those Mega dealers - ComDoc. ComDoc, according to their site, was the largest independent Ricoh dealership in the U.S.

ComDoc Chief Executive Officer Riley Lochridge said,

''An offer was made that we think was good for our employees and our shareholders, ... and it will be good for our customers,''

And in a '''rapidly consolidating marketplace,'' he said, joining forces will make the company even stronger and more competitive.

ComDoc employs 600 and had sales of $125 million last year; the employees own the company, so they will share in the proceeds of the sale. ComDoc reportedly services 14,000 customers.

Xerox spokesman Carl Langsenkamp said, ''We try to find dealers that are well-known and have a good customer base,'' he said. ''ComDoc had good, key cities ... and GIS didn't have any operations in Ohio, so this opened up that opportunity.''

This acquisition, will give GIS a presence in 29 states.

All reports are that no major changes in operations will result although a strategic plan to convert clients to Xerox is obvious.

Since the being purchased by Xerox, GIS as made 6 other acquisitions.

It appears that Xerox is utilizing GIS's expertise in dealer assimilation to grow the channel even more.

List of GIS acquisitions(partial) since Xerox purchase, May, 2007:

Imagine Technology Group
Copy Products, Inc.
Alternative Office Systems
Sierra Office Solutions
Saxon Business Systems
Blackstone Valley Office Systems
American Business Machines, Inc.
Better Quality Business Systems
Marbaugh Reprographics Supply Co.
Inland Business Machines, Inc
ComDoc

Lyra Symposium 2009 - The Death of Edgeline

Two years ago Edgeline was all you heard about.

HP had set their eyes on the copier world again and this time it was different.

This time HP has it's own machine, not some "duct taped" apparition.

This time HP was in charge of the channel, not partnering with a non-committal, old school dealer channel.

With Edgeline and an existing VAR channel, The Death of The Copier was just around the corner.

The machine utilized ink, did not use heat, corona wires, or static.

Demos were conducted, partners and service technicians trained.

Awards like the "Must See ‘em award" at the Graph Expo trade show, the “Technology Award” from the Microsoft Vendor Program (MSVP) and kudos from no less than BLI came rolling in.

Elite dealers made unit commitments - the world was their oyster.

The world waited -

And waited.

Fast forward to January, 2009. More specifically to the last session of the three day Lyra 2009 Symposium.

On stage sits the panel of esteemed financial pundits who specialize in analyzing the print industry. Keith Bachman, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst Enterprise Hardware and Imaging BMO Capital Markets, Rob Sethre, CEO Woodford Group, Charles LeCompte, President Lyra Research, and Shannon Cross, Managing Director IT Hardware and Imaging Technology Cross Research.

Someone from the audience asks about HP Edgeline.

The panel does not hold back.

Phrases like,

"...the Edgeline has had no success at all..."

and proven to be an "objective failure" or HP is at best "...persistent at their failure..." seem to echo off the dark blue velvet back drop.

Of course, it didn't help that HP just announced the "relocation" of Edgeline R/D from Vancouver to Singapore. No, that did not help at all.

Edgeline falls within in IPG so the discussion blossoms once again with phrases like,

"...IPG is getting decimated..."

because "...Hurd is now focusing on IPG...trimming the fat..." so IPG can be "...more nimble..." especially when "...there is no more growth coming from the cash-cow..."

As bad as all this is, and deservedly so, there is a silver lining of sorts. It is expressed that no other firm in the world would be able to absorb such a disappointment. Additionally, it was commonly believed that HP will "do something" to get into and ultimately dominate the copier market.

As for suggestions on how HP could do just that - Shannon Cross in a wonderfully abrupt and direct manner clearly stated,

"HP should buy Canon."

She followed up with, "they should buy Xerox...but there would be dominance issues." I believe alluding to the monopolistic aspects of such an occurrence.

HP Should Buy Canon - that is the take away from this session.

An acquisition like this would allow HP to own outright, their laser engines and give them some sort of foothold in the copier industry. But, in light of the relative strength and dominance Ricoh will soon have in the industry, the question has to be, does HP have enough guts to get into the fray?

If only HP had a gutsy-type guy at the helm...

UPDATES:

The Death of the HP CM8060 with Edgeline Technology has been Greatly Exagerated

Canon - Taking Hits

Canon of Japan, the world's largest digital camera maker, reported a sharp fall in quarterly profit Wednesday and predicted a two-thirds decline this year, hit by slumping demand for cameras and office equipment and a stronger yen.

"A substantial recovery in the economy is unlikely in 2009. Our operating environment will be even harder this year than it was last year," Masahiro Osawa, Canon's senior managing director in charge of accounting, said at a news conference.

Canon is under attack by a "triple threat" - low demand for camera's, the yen, and Ricoh. The first two, low demand and the yen, effect everyone. Ricoh, because of the acquisition of IKON, has the ability to bend the bullet right at Canon's copier segment.