Covering Industry Developments in April 2023

  • Headline News: "Sharp Goes Big in First US Dealer Meeting Since 2019" - Sharp's April dealer meeting in Las Vegas marked its return to the business of hosting big, glitzy US dealer events with lots of product previews and educational opportunities. In fact, this was likely the biggest and most costly US dealer meeting we've seen in many years, even before COVID.
  • The Editorial: "Annuity vs. Annoyance" - Hardcopy OEMs and dealers who want to layer on software subscriptions to MFP hardware that costs thousands of dollars tend to see themselves as providing cool new applications and capabilities. But customers may see this more negatively, as an asymmetric means by which an OEM or a dealer seeks to extract more money from them each month simply by exposing capabilities that are already inherently there in that pricey product.
  • In Other News:  "Vendors’ First Quarter Financial Results Diverge" - For Xerox and Canon, the first three months of 2023 marked the start of a new fiscal year, and for Epson it marked the end of a fiscal year. These results provided the first indications of how a muddled 2023 might turn out for the printer industry. ... "Lexmark Debuts 15 A4 Color and B&W MFPs and Printers" - In March, HP launched a slew of A4 MFPs and printers. Then in April, Lexmark announced fifteen A4 color and monochrome devices. But whereas the HP products introduced cleansheet engines with completely new toner technology, the Lexmark products were enhanced or refreshed versions of existing products. ... "Xerox Donates Downsized PARC to SRI International" - It's difficult not to see Xerox donating PARC to SRI as anything but a cost-cutting measure and an acknowledgment that PARC has ceased to offer much value, either to Xerox or anyone else. One has to assume Xerox would have sold PARC if there was a willing buyer.

  • And Even More News - US Sees to See Ricoh End Savin & Lanier and Kyocera Scrap Copystar. ... Ricoh Europe Buys PFH, its largest IT services acquisitions in years. ... Ricoh says it loves "TMI." ...  Kodak Alaris scanner business rumored to be for sale. ... Konica Minolta touts its DEI efforts. ... HP Apogee buys small UK dealer. ... Fujifilm selling presses in North America. ... Kofax relaunches its Marketplace. ... Less than meets the eye in Xerox’s new MFP Tools. ... Kyocera refreshes ECOSYS MFP foursome. ... A roller coaster ride for Xerox's A4 device prices. ... China’s Xiaomi ships its first single-function laser printer. ... Muratec launches OEM’d A3 color bizhub trio in Japan. ... Konica Minolta updates confusing US healthcare MFP. ... Arizona investigation confirms suspected issues with OKI printers in 2022 election. ... Plus more!