New Mobile Printing App Release by Canon

Canon just announced its new Canon Mobile Printing App for the iPhone and iPad, an app that extends the company's already vast support for mobile office users and consumers. The Canon Mobile Printing App allows users in homes and offices to send print jobs directly from their iPhone and iPad to a compatible Canon output device, literally allowing them to print from anywhere in the house or office.

In addition to that, the Canon Mobile Printing App is compatible with select Canon imageCLASS desktop laser printers and multifunction printers, including the recently launched MF4000 models. The app is also compatible with Canon's recently released next-generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5200, 6200 and 8200 enterprise multifunction office systems.

Moreover, the app also supports most imageRUNNER and imageRUNNER ADVANCE enterprise multifunction office systems along with imageRUNNER LBP printers. Users are able to print Microsoft Office files, iWorkd files, JPEG, GIF, BMP, PNG, TIFF and PDF files, photographs and even web pages directly through the app's user-friendly interface. Supported file types include: doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt and pptx for Microsoft Office and Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iWork.

According to Vice President and General Manager of Marketing, Business Imaging Solutions Group for Canon U.S.A. Sam Yoshida, "With today's mobile workforce, being able to print on-the-go is becoming an increasingly valuable asset. The new Canon Mobile Printing App provides ease of use and places the traditional print functionality at the fingertips of today's mobile worker."

Source: Canon U.S.A. Announces Mobile Printing App for Home and Office Users

Toshiba Tec's Loops Copier System Erases Printed Paper, Allows You to Reuse Paper

Toshiba Tec recently debuted a new eco-friendly copy machine that allows users to erase printed documents and reuse them as blank sheets of paper, reducing the carbon footprint in the process. This is actually a brilliant idea because, if you're like me, you always end up having a lot of papers you've printed off that you can't use anymore. Sure you can throw them away or recycle them, but this allows you to reuse them, not only making for a greener experience but also saving you tons of money on paper.

Known as the Loops Copier System, this device is the first of its kind and combines two separate machines: a special toner that uses erasable ink and a machine that applies heat to wipe the paper clean. The system also has the capability to erase as many as 30 sheets per minute, cutting down on the amount of paper used by nearly 80% compared to standard copiers. As soon as the documents are erased, the machine sorts through all the printouts and eliminates damage paper from the system. In addition to that, each sheet can be reused up to five times.

Loops is a part of a larger push by Toshiba Tec to produce eco-friendly products that drastically reduce a company's carbon footprint by using less energy and making efficient use of resources. What's more is that the copier system alone slashes carbon dioxide emissions of standard machines by almost 60%, according to Toshiba Tec. The Loops Copier System is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in February 2013 for an estimated retail price of ¥1.41 million, or over $17,000. Toshiba Tec plans to sell the green system in other countries under a different name starting in May of 2013. Source: ABC News - Eco-Friendly Copier Erases Printouts

Kodak Ends Inkjet Printer Sales, Continues to Sell Ink

Kodak recently announced that it was discontinuing the sales of its inkjet printers, which left many customers worried that the company may discontinue the sale of the ink for these printers as well. Many people bought inkjet printers from Kodak for one simple reason, that being the fact that the ink for these printers was pretty cheap in comparison to others. The good news is that even though the company won't sell any more inkjet printers, it will still continue to sell the ink to customers who have these printers.

Krista Gleason, spokeswoman for Kodak, recently stressed, "Kodak will continue to sell ink to its customers, honor all product warranties, and provide technical support and service. Customer service remains a priority." However, that raises the question of how long this will go on. According to Gleason, "The expected lifetime of the printers," which is three to four years based on industry average.

Kodak added that it anticipates supporting inkjet sales beyond that, as long as consumer demand remains strong. The same thing was said last month when Lexmark announced that it was exiting the inkjet printer business. Even though both companies get some credit for not leaving customers high and dry, this isn't all about customer service.

The real profit for printer and copier companies comes from ink and toner sales. This announcement from Kodak clearly stated that it would continue to sell the ink in an effort to crawl out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "Kodak has continued to manage its Consumer Inkjet business for profitability, and starting in 2013, it will focus that business on the sale of ink to its installed base," the company said.

Kodak's printers have been considered slower than most of the other ones on the market. Even though picture quality on Kodak devices was very good, other features and capabilities seemed underwhelming for office use. To make things worse, Kodak put these devices up against a ton of new and better devices from companies like Brother, Canon, Epson and HP. Aside from printing photos, Kodak's printers weren't fast enough to be of any real use in an office setting.

IDC's Keith Kmetz stated, "Kodak's market share never achieved the levels the company hoped for, and Kodak's financial struggles made the company's consumer inkjet effort very difficult." These problems sound a lot like the ones faced by Lexmark, where both companies wanted to sell ink and toner for printers and copiers that were mediocre and best.

Source: PCWorld - Kodak printers are gone, but the ink sells on

Lexmark Ditches Inkjet Printer Market, Focuses on Laser Printing Instead

Lexmark semi-recently announced that it was leaving the inkjet printing market altogether, which doesn't mean too much considering the company was never a top contender in the market anyhow. Regardless, the company did announce that it was phasing out its consumer and SOHO inkjet businesses as well as canceling its business inkjet line. With this news, some people are wondering if the world of inkjet printing is dead and therefore the era of laser printers is upon us.

The  good news here, at least for existing Lexmark inkjet customers, is that Lexmark Executive Vice President and President of Imaging Solutions and Services Mark Canning stated that even though the company will no longer be making new inkjet printers, it is not abandoning its current inkjet customers. According to Canning, "We will continue to provide the customers all of the supplies, support, maintenance and technical support. It's not our intention in any way to cut short the value that our customers have purchased from us."

On the other hand, Lexmark's laser printing business is doing well. Despite the company's tough financial times in its two main markets, the laser printing business for Lexmark is growing in both hardware purchases and supplies usage. This brings up the question of whether or not consumers' shift to online is hurting Lexmark's printer business. "Every time things go online, there's more to print," Canning added. "We have a lot of activity around mobile printing, cloud printing, print anywhere, print and release, and managed print services. While these things are shifting online, the volume is increasing content."

Lexmark may not be the only company planning on ditching the inkjet manufacturing business, though they are currently the only ones that have actually come out and said it. Some business analysts believe that Lexmark is making the right decision by ditching this particular industry. In addition to that, a recent increase in Lexmark's stock price is yet another positive indicator that stockholders still have faith in the company.

Source: PC World - Lexmark: Inkjet Printers Are Dead, Long Live Laser Printers

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Apple Files 2 New "Shake to Print" Patents for iOS Devices

Yay! New patent filings from Apple! Just what you always wanted! Unless you're Samsung, that is. Anyway, there are a new pair of patent filings from the company that would allow users to select custom settings for printing by moving or interacting with an iPhone or an iPad in different, unique ways.

The filings were recently published this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and are entitled Systems and Methods for Defining Print Settings Using Device Movements and Systems and Methods for Defining Print Settings Using an Input Interface.

One example of how the applications could be used described how a user could shake their iPhone back and forth in order to enable a print settings mode. In addition to that, the patents gave an example of a user shaking their iPad to cancel a print job. This isn't exactly new tech for the company, as Apple already has a system-wide feature that allows users to shake their device to undo things as well as a shake option that shuffles music on devices.

This new concept, however, could allow users to change settings, like print orientation, by rotating or moving an iOS device. One example included in the patent stated that viewing a photo in portrait mode could then send the picture to a printer with the same layout.

The patent application also presents new ways that a user could interact with an iPad to select printer settings. Users could select an array of pages to print from a document, while the template selector would show a user how their content would appear on various paper sizes.

Whenever viewing multiple pages of a document at one time on a touchscreen device, a user could also use their finger to draw across the pages and signify the order in which the pages should be printed. Whether or not this technology actually makes it on to future Apple devices remains to be seen, though the ideas are definitely interesting.

Source: AppleInsider - Apple's 'shake to print' concept would add custom printing options to iOS devices

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Kodak Steps Away from the Printer Industry

After only recently putting hundreds of millions of dollars into creating a new line of business in desktop inkjet printers, Kodak has already decided to scrap the project. The company announced recently that it is planning to shift its focus in 2013 from ink sales to printers it has sold, which is the most profitable part of that particular business. The company also announced that it would stop selling printers, an area where competition is leaving little room for Kodak.

The news only gets worse from there as the company also announced that it would be asking Federal bankruptcy court for more time to put together a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan. Plans like this would spell out how a reorganized company will operate after bankruptcy and the steps that company will take in order to make creditors as whole as possible.

Kodak has made a plethora of big changes ever since filing for bankruptcy back in January in attempts to raise money and cut costs. These measures have included shutting down its digital camera business and selling its online Kodak Gallery operations. Kodak currently has a few other businesses that are also up for sale, including document scanners and still camera film.

Kodak has talked about profits in desktop inkjet printers for a while now, with the company stating that the main profits are found in consumables like the ink itself. According to a recent statement from the company, getting out of the printer business "will significantly improve cash flow in the U.S. beginning in the first half of 2013."

Source: USA Today - Kodak quits printers, wants new deadline

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A 7% Increase in Printer and Copier Market Discovered in Q2 2012

According to the research firm Gartner, the combined serial inkjet and page printers, copiers and multifunction products market in the United States totaled 7,150,202 units in the second quarter of 2012, a 6.8% increase over the same period last year. The total end-user spending reached $208.1 million USD, an increase of 35% from the same period last year as well.

According to Gartner Research Analyst Amrita Choudhury, "The MFP market growth here has been driven by the banking, financial services and insurance, education and government sectors." Choudhury went on to say that the market also gained some traction in the high speed segment, often used by large publishing houses or organizations to print their outbound communications. 

HP remained on top in the markets for printers, copiers and multifunction printers, accounting for 51.4% of shipments. Canon pulled in the number 2 spot with 23%, while Samsung and Epson rounded out the leaders with 8.3% and 8.1%, respectively. In the A4 MFP segment, HP was the market leader as well with a 48.2% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.7% and Canon with 13.7%. The A3 flatbed copier MFP segment saw Canon leading the pack with a 28.9% market share. Konica Minolta took the number 2 spot with 19.7% and Ricoh commanded 12.8% of the market. 

Not everything was positive, however, with the inkjet printer market declining 7.2% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. HP, which accounted for 50.8% of the total sales in the segment, also saw a decline of 23.6%. Epson held a market share of 30% and also had a shipment decline of 8.8%. Canon also improved shipments in the inkjet division by increasing by 136% compared to the second quarter of 2011, contributing 18.8% of market share.

Source: NDTV Gadgets - Printers and copiers market grows 7%: Gartner

Canon Updates Dedicated Photo-Printing Products

Canon recently updated its photo-printing products, the Pro10 and the Pro-100, to follow the same design as the high-end Pixma Pro-1 which was released nearly one year ago. These devices now offer WiFi/AirPrint and Ethernet connectivity as well as a new plug-in for Lightroom and Photoshop.

The Pro-10, which sells for $699, uses the Lucia pigment inks, supplemented with the same Chroma Optimizer as the Pro-1, minimizing gloss differential and bronzing of black inks whenever you print on glossy paper. In addition to that, Canon reformulated the yellow ink and claims that there is now increased coverage in the red/magenta/yellow area of the color gamut.

If you are a fan of dyes, then the Pixma Pro-100 is what you will be interested in. This $499 device uses a reconfigured ChromaLife 100+ ink set, dropping the red and green primaries to add gray and light gray. Canon also incorporated a reformulated magenta which, according to the company, "delivers better reds for improved black and shadow reproduction."

Both of these printers have also received increases to print speeds while the drivers also ship with a new Pro mode, designed to deliver more accurate automated color matching. Both printers are expected to be released this October. These devices seem to be optimized for photographers and photo enthusiasts as they have a lot of features that help with the production of pictures. 

Source: CNET - Canon updates prosumer photo printer line

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New Fast and Efficient Light Production Series of Copiers and Printers Released by Xerox

Xerox recently launched its newest light production series of devices at the Africa Print Expo in Sandton. The new devices include the Xerox D95/D110/D125 Copier/Printer and the D110/D125 Printer, both of which are capable of delivering sharp black-and-white image quality with speed and efficiency.

In addition to that, these devices were designed to meet the demands of print-intensive environments and make it easy for people like educators to create things like curriculum materials, student directories, course packs and bound materials. Productivity can also be increased with archiving and stamping software, allowing legal, insurance and healthcare users to store documents electronically and guarantee their authenticity with numerical markings.

Commercial, quick and franchise printers are capable of meeting tight turnaround times in the print-for-pay market and can also offer more applications and services, like newsletters, on-demand book publishing and customized catalogues. These new copier/printer models are available in speeds of 95, 110 and 125pp, while the D110/D125 Printers are available in speeds of 110 and 125ppm, which is perfect for the transactional print environment.

There are also a lot of key customer benefits with these new models, including things like fast and easy operation, advanced workflow tools and multipurpose finishing options, making them perfect for a variety of settings and operations.

According to Marketing and Product Manager for Bytes Document Solutions PSG Paul Haglich, "The faster scanner, expanded robust inline finishing options and simplified graphical user interface should make these new products popular in light production environments where ease of use and affordable productivity are key. This range of highly productive digital printers are ideally suited to quick/franchise or enterprise in-plant printers, legal, insurance and healthcare companies and the educational market."

Source: Graphic Repro - Xerox SA launches fast, efficient light production series

Sharp Considering Selling Copier Business

Sharp Corporation is mulling over a decision to sell its copier and air-conditioner businesses according to Japanese media, which includes the Nikkei business daily. The reason for the decision could be shrinking finances, causing the company to consider restructuring any and all non-core assets.

Sharp, which also makes screens for Apple's iPad and iPhone, is in desperate need of a refinancing, as much as ¥360 billion, which translates into approximately $4.45 billion USD, of short-term commercial paper and will also need an additional ¥200 billion in September of next year to cover a maturing convertible bond.

Sharp, which is desperate for funds to refinance looming debt rollovers, is seeking more than ¥100 billion for its key solar panel plant, which is located in Sakai, Western Japan, as part of an asset sale, local media reported. In addition to that, Sharp may sell its buildings in Tokyo as well as television assembly plants in Poland, Malaysia and Mexico, according to a company source.

Kyocera Corporation, Daiwa House Industry Company and Daikin Industries Limited are just a few of the companies that have reportedly shown an interest in buying the copier and air-conditioner businesses according to reports from the Nikkei. Sharp also signed contracts with two overseas consulting firms to help it determine which assets to sell.

Sharp, which also makes Aquos televisions, will also sell its 0.6% stake in Japanese camera maker Olympus Corporation and is also leaning towards disposing of its 9.8% interest in lithium ion battery joint venture Eliiy Power Company, the Nikkei reported. Sharp said in a recent statement that it is considering a plethora of options to improve operations, though refused to comment further on the reports.

Source: Reuters - Sharp may sell copier, air conditioner businesses

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