Candy Bars and Books on Demand

Recently I wrote about the Xerox/On Demand Books announcement (Xerox and On Demand Books Collaborate on Espresso Book Machine) and it has gotten me thinking about the purpose of a book-on-demand machine, or what is also sometimes called a book kiosk. What types of books are best suited for a book kiosk? If the kiosk is in a book store, it generally wouldn’t need to be used for anything that could be found in the store, unless the store had run out of a mass-produced book and the book kiosk could create a suitable facsimile in a timely and economic fashion. The fit would be much better if the desired title were obscure (like an out-of-print book), targeted (like a university course pack), niche-oriented (too quirky to be stocked on shelves), customized (perhaps drawn from a reservoir of copyrighted content), personalized (maybe using a combination of personal and professional content), or self-published. The more likely that it couldn’t be found in the store, the better. But why does the book kiosk even have to be in a bookstore? What about airports, convention centers, hotels, resorts, theaters, retail stores, or cruise ships?

Read more »

Timely results and HP SmartStream Designer

Today HP announced the commercial availability of HP SmartStream Director 4.0. In the release HP notes that SmartStream Designer allows wide format printing organizations to offer faster turnaround and address the need for shorter runs and variable data. There has been an increasing focus on these tools for wide format among all kinds of printing organizations, but especially as more commercial printers invest in wide format digital printing systems. As it happens InfoTrends just got data back from our World Wide Survey III, a joint InfoTrends/FESPA study (look for results to be published next week). In it, 81% of the survey respondents, who are wide format print companies, reported they are seeing an increase in demand for shorter turnaround times. 67% reported an increase in demand for shorter runs. 52% have seen an increase in demand for more versioning and personalization.

We’ve been showing data like this for quite a while, with trends indicating a need for digital wide format systems to address variable data printing. Many of the 3^rd-party wide format RIP solutions offer options and modules that enable variable data printing as well. We’ve been suggesting that important wide format product developments in 2010 would be aimed at easing the integration of wide format systems into the production environment. The launch of SmartStream Designer 4.0 for wide format certainly fits the description.

Google – A Nice Place For a Picnik

Yesterday, Google announced its acquisition of Picnik, the online photo editor. Established in 2005, Picnik is a powerful Flash-based in-browser editing suite for photos that are already online, with tools well beyond the standard zoom/crop and rotate functions offered by most online photo services. Read more »

Minimum Acceptance Level Océ Not Reached – What Will Canon Do Next?

Canon announced today that 71% of Océ’s shares have been tendered to Canon, which is below the 85% that Canon required to go ahead with the deal. Now that ‘only’ 71% has been tendered or acquired by Canon, the company needs to make a decision about what to do next. They have the following options:

Read more »

No Heidelberg at Graph Expo 2010

WhatTheyThink reported last week that neither Heidelberg nor Komori would exhibit at Graph Expo this year. This news represents the culmination of a trend that has been brewing over the past ten years at the Graph Expo and Print shows. Since 2004, InfoTrends has compared the Graph Expo show floor maps to provide an indication of market changes. These rankings are compiled by measuring the published show floor map. Initially InfoTrends began conducting this exercise to show the impact of the digital vendors on a trade show that had been dominated by traditional printing press vendors. This point has long since been made. For all practical purposes, as one looks at the list of top vendors, Graph Expo has become dominated by digital exhibitors.

Read more »

Getting Compact

I was reminded recently of a good example of innovative design. I had seen GBC’s eBinder at ON DEMAND 2009 in the Xerox booth where it was shown in-line with a Xerox Nuvera, but the full impact of the design took a while to sink in. As is often the case, a picture can tell the story better than a wordy description. The eBinder uses a single flat plastic consumable (see below) to form an elliptical lay-flat, wrap-around  binding that can support document page counts ranging from 2 to 100 sheets.

eBinder Ellipse consumable (top) and GBC ProClick consumable (bottom)

Read more »

The iPad: a Photo Enthusiast’s View

European debt resulting in different speeds of economic recovery

Wherever I go at the moment I hear cautious optimism regarding the European economy and the prospects for business in 2010. Nevertheless there seems to be something troubling people, a sense of unease despite the positive sentiments. A couple of weeks ago someone went as far as suggesting they were seeing a multi-speed recovery in Europe; some markets picking up - others remaining severely challenged.

Today, I thought I’d take the bull by the horns, go one step further and openly talk about the enormous elephant in the room – DEBT.

OK, so I’ve said it – what now? Read more »

Activist Shareholders Go to Court to Defy Canon-Océ Acquisition

The proposed acquisition of Océ by Canon is still not certain as it emerged that activist shareholders Hermes Asset Management, owning 3.3% of Océ’s shares, and The Universities Superannuation Schemes, owner of 1.8%, have asked a court in Amsterdam to conduct an investigation about the negotiations that took place between Canon and Océ. Since Canon made the offer, there has been resistance from certain shareholders as they argue that Canon’s proposed €8.60 offer per share undervalues Océ, and that higher returns can be achieved if each of Océ’s business groups is separately divested.

Read more »

Implications of the CARD Act for TransPromo

Today, the major provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (the CARD Act) takes effect in the United States. The ultimate goal of this law is transparency and clarity in terms and conditions. The likely result will be sweeping changes to how credit card issuers approach their marketing, advertising, and billing. What does this all mean for TransPromo? One long-standing hurdle to the implementation of TransPromo is the headache of document (and data) redesign. Credit card issuers were given a government-mandated opportunity to open up that data and begin a redesign process—however basic it may end up being. That said, multiple vendors and service providers have leapt at the opportunity. The general feeling from many of the companies these vendors are working with is that if they are going through a redesign anyway, what else can they do?

Some of this activity was already put into motion while ramping up for the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z), which took full effect on October 1, 2009. Similar to the CARD Act, the relevant portion of this law related to content and formatting changes that credit card billers needed to put in place. CreditCards.com has an interesting timeline that shows when various credit card legislation takes effect. Our expectation is that 2010 will reveal significant headway made for TransPromo in the credit card industry in the United States.