Print and Mobile are Better Together!

Print has been the ultimate portable media for a very long time—ever since someone thought to write on a tablet that could be transported rather than writing on a cave wall. Today, devices like smartphones and iPads have become a primary source of portable media from which we can obtain information and communicate. Technology is certainly moving fast, but that doesn’t mean that print has to be left in the dust. In just the past several weeks, the market has seen tremendous examples of companies that are combining print and mobile technologies to deliver enhanced value.

Throughout 2010 and 2011, Calvin Klein will be featuring a new ad campaign promoting its X jeans. Three billboards (at Houston and Lafayette Street in New York, at West 20th Street and 10th Avenue in New York, and at Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive in Los Angeles) are displaying a Calvin Klein QR code that gives device users access to a mobile video featuring models in the company’s latest X jeans. The QR code included in Calvin Klein’s billboards enables consumers to scan at street level to view an exclusive 40-second spot on their mobile devices.

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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.

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What’s Keeping You Up at Night?

I recently met with a group of Kodak NexPress users and I asked them, “What keeps you up at night?” They started throwing out a range of ideas and didn’t stop until we came up with a list of about twenty things like keeping up with technology, driving growth, new competition, automation, legislation, solution selling, and government regulations.

I dutifully wrote everything down and then grouped them into about eight or nine topics areas. I gave everyone three votes to apply to their top three nightmares. After the smoke cleared the top issue by far was the future of print. In short, what is the viability of print in an age of Internet, social media, and mobile communications? Read more »

A picture may be worth a thousand words… but it costs only $2.99!

A couple weeks ago, I heard of a new service that is bringing the ability to create and print photo books from Facebook. At first look, the Facebook application was not all that exciting, until you notice that HotBook (from HotPrints Ltd.) prints a photo book (16 pages and approximately 50 pictures) for $2.99. Before this application, there was little that could be done with Facebook images other than sharing with friends. For under $4 (including shipping), this is a nice offering for people hoping to do more with their photos on the social networking site.

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Live-blogging From Graph Expo

A few people from the InfoTrends production team will be blogging live from Graph Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago from Sunday, October 26 to Wednesday, October 29. Myself, along with Tim Greene (Director, Wide Format Printing and Jetting Technology Opportunities Consulting Sevices) and some others will providing you with some updates on new, innovative hardware and software technology being showcased in Chicago. We’ll be starting the coverage this weekend. Just check out the posts tagged with “Graph Expo 2008″.

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