George Will and the Blues Brothers

I was in Los Angeles Monday at the Konica Minolta “Power of Performance” Conference & Product Expo. About 30 analysts have been invited to report on this event that this year is bringing together Konica Minolta dealer and direct sales channels in one giant lollapalooza held from May 2-5 at the JW Marriott Hotel at L.A. Live (next to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles). About a thousand people are here and we’ve just completed the first day which started with presentations from Konica Minolta executives, continued with a keynote from conservative commentator George Will, and has finished up with a rousing performance by the Blues Brothers (Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi) at nearby Club Nokia. I think from the A-list entertainment line-up you can see that Konica Minolta is going all out for this event, but the real risk, as Konica Minolta Business Solutions, USA Senior VP and CEO Rick Taylor put it, was getting all of the dealer and direct sales people in the same room for the first time. This strategy, however, has enabled Konica Minolta to bring a consistent message to the two groups that most need to hear it, despite the fact that by their very nature they are often in conflict.

Konica Minolta Power of Performance attendees take a break from the morning's festivities

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Some Photos and Thoughts from ON DEMAND 2010

Having just returned from ON DEMAND 2010 I wanted to share a few impressions of the event, along with some photos, to give those who weren’t able to attend an idea of what it was like.

On the blue/red dividing line between the AIIM and ON DEMAND show floors

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Three Cut-Sheet Digital Printing Announcements Spark the Opening of ON DEMAND 2010

Lurking in the background as ON DEMAND 2010 opens are some very big questions about the economy, what the new combined Canon/Océ will look like, and whether any European visitors will make it to the show because of the volcano ash, but there is also some very big cut-sheet digital printing product news. Three new cut-sheet digital printing announcements are sure to be highlights of this year’s show: Read more »

Konica Minolta and Océ End Development Relationship

In another indication that Canon’s planned acquisition of Océ is moving toward completion, Konica Minolta and Océ have mutually announced that they are ending their joint development efforts, which had centered around cut-sheet monochrome and color output systems for the production printing market. Konica Minolta and Océ said that they would continue to supply production printing systems to each other on an OEM basis, under the OEM sales agreement. They will also continue to supply consumables and parts and offer after-sales service for products already in the market.

The OEM relationship had started with Konica Minolta providing its 50- and 65-ppm color copier/printers to Océ. It expanded when Konica Minolta announced its bizhub PRO 2500P, an OEM version of Océ’s VarioPrint 6250. The companies announced a formal partnership for a development and marketing relationship in January of 2008.

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Showtime – The Pre-IPEX event season has started

Every big events has its forebodings and so do big trade shows like drupa or IPEX have a string of press events running up to the event itself, in which vendors and show organizers give the press a first glimpse on the things to come. This will be the first blog on pre-IPEX announcements and there will be more coming up in the next days and weeks as the information trickles in.
The IPEX organizers themselves set the scene today at the first pre-IPEX event and shared some pre-show figures. IPEX will be big – but slightly smaller than IPEX was in 2006. Floorspace will be reduced by 15%, but still will encompass a whopping 60.000 square metres (approx 650.000 square feet). The IPEX organizers are still upbeat as initially a much bigger drop in the number and booked floorspace of the exhibitors was expected. There are only 3,500 square metres of exhibition space vacant and the IPEX organizers are confident to fill these gaps soon.

There was some interesting news however on who is taking how much space. In 2010 HP will have the biggest booth, by beating Heidelberger Druckmaschinen by about 500 square meters. Heidelberg’s booth size essentially halved compared to IPEX 06. An even bigger drop had Xerox in its booth size, but Xerox still ties with Canon on the third rank in booth size. Fujifilm, Kodak, Ricoh/InfoPrint, Konica Minolta and Océ complement the line-up of digital companies in the top 10, joined by Friedheim International, a U.K. based finishing equipment dealer. In other words 8 out of the top 10 exhibitors by booth size sell digital printing equipment. KBA and manroland are present at IPEX as well, but with smaller booth sizes. Overall the share of digital equipment manufacturers increased from 26% to 38% of the show floor, while printing press manufacturers dropped from 41% in 2006 to 26% in 2010.

At the same time the show is getting more international. About 50% of attendees are expected to be from outside of the U.K., compared to 40% in 2006. Additionally 28% of the over 1,000 exhibitors are new to the show, illustrating the innovation potential that is still within the Graphic Arts industry. Especially Chinese manufacturers have been very active and their presence at the show will essentially double. No doubt – at IPEX 2010 there will be some interesting news to be found on the showfloor.

Canon to Acquire Océ

Today, Canon Inc. (trading symbol CAJ) announced a public cash offer for all the shares of Océ (trading symbol OCE).  Canon intends to make an offer of € 8.60 per Share (cum dividend) for 100% of the outstanding Shares of Océ, representing a premium of 70% over Océ’s closing share price of Friday 13 November 2009 and 137% to the average share price over the last 12 months, this makes the deal worth about 1.1 billion dollars.

In the wake of other major acquisitions in the last year, particularly Ricoh’s acquisition of IKON, there has been much speculation about what Canon will do. Now that Canon has agreed to acquire Océ, it is clear that one of its strategic options has been selected. Read more »

Print 09 Media Days: Day 2

Day 2 of Media Days (see my Day 1 write-up of Media Days) included presentations from Xerox, Henkel, RISO, Lake Image Systems, Konica Minolta, and manroland (displayed below in the order in which they were presented): Read more »

What If People Actually Showed Up? A Report from ON DEMAND 2009

ON DEMAND 2009 opened among concerns about the economy and how that would impact the turnout. Some predicted truly anemic attendance. Though no attendance figures are available yet to verify this, my observation is that attendance on the ON DEMAND show floor and at the conference was quite good. In speaking with many exhibitors over the past three days, the general reaction is that booth traffic was better than they had expected and that the show was providing good leads. Some of this can be attributed to this year’s move to Philadelphia from Boston, which makes it easier for attendees from Washington and New York to attend. Read more »

Building Trust: Konica Minolta’s Vision 2009 Dealer Event

Barb Pellow and I were invited along with about twenty other market analysts to attend the Konica Minolta Business Solutions Vision 2009 dealer event in Orlando, Florida. Of the more than 400 U.S. dealers, Konica Minolta estimates that about 60% to 70% were represented at Vision 2009. All in all, InfoTrends believes that close to 1,000 people attended the event, including Konica Minolta dealers, employees, and partners. Held at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, Konica Minolta’s Vision 2009 included presentations by Konica Minolta executives, a keynote by Fortune magazine senior editor Geoffrey Colvin, various workshops, and an extensive exhibition area.

You can see more on the product and service announcements in the News area of the InfoTrends web site, but what I’d like to write about today is how Konica Minolta addressed the concerns of the audience of dealers. The parallels with the national dealer event that Ricoh USA held in October are interesting to consider in light of the close proximity of the two meetings: Read more »