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Mimeo Gets More Cash from HP, Others
HP Shakes Up Its Image
NAPL Study Predicts Trouble
Sunday, June 30, 2002
Web Struggles for Bertelsmann
The web isn't like everything else and even the big publishers are having trouble figuring out how to make money. <blockquote>Bertelsmann suspends Pixelpark payments. Europemedia.net Jun 29 2002 3:32PM ET [Moreover - Media: Europe news] </blockquote>
Terry Frazier at 12:00 AM
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Thursday, June 27, 2002
Mimeo Gets More Cash from HP, Others
Mimeo's ExactPrint software has never received the market recognition it deserves, despite being a significant advantage in driving business to the company's Memphis, TN-based Automated Document Factory. The company has gone quiet over the last 12-18 months but appears to have remained stable and focused on ways to capture corporate print.
We can expect some aggressive marketing from them now that they have new funding. We may also see some greater push to color, given the HP tie-in. It is not unlikely that HP will continue to sponsor automated input systems -- like ExactPrint -- to drive HP Indigo presses. This could present a significant competitive advantage to Mimeo, and a strategic issue for competitors. Mimeo remains one of the "new generation" of demand-driven print companies that deserves careful attention.
[WhatTheyThink.com] June 27, 2002 -- provider based in New York, has secured $6.5 million in new funding from current investors including Hewlett-Packard. Since inception, the company has raised over $40 million.Mimeo provides outsourced printing solutions for corporations. The company?s main technology is called ExactPrint software which print buyers use to automate their document production. Mimeo has a large print facility in Memphis and tight relations with FedEx. The company claims the relationship allows users to have finished documents delivered anywhere in North America within 24 hours.
Wednesday, June 26, 2002
HP Shakes Up Its Image
HP has long been a serious player in consumer and office color printing. With their recent acquisition of Indigo they have also taken aim at the professional color print market. This roll-out pits HP squarely against professional photo processors. Can the professional print market be far behind?
HP completely overhauls printer biz. ZDNet Jun 25 2002 10:04AM ET [Moreover - Hewlett-Packard news]
NAPL Study Predicts Trouble
An attendee poll at the 10th Annual GATF/NAPL Sheetfed Pressroom Conference in Chicago does not bode well for the industry's ability to adapt to rapidly changing market dynamics. The survey garnered disappointing, but not surprising, responses:
The majority of respondents projected digital printing will continue to make inroads, with more than a quarter predicting digital will account for 30% of total revenues in 2020, and another 22.2% predicting this segment will contribute 50% or more of sales. Average run length will continue to decrease, those polled said, with 21.1% forecasting average run lengths of 1,000 or less by 2020. One area not expected to change much, however, is the way print is sold. A hefty majority of printers polled (86.1%) said that e-commerce will not replace face-to-face selling as the primary method of selling printing in 2020. [WhatTheyThink.com]
- 65 percent think more than 70% of their revenues will still come from putting ink on paper. I concur but I wonder if they realize their revenues will probably shrink by 50% to 70%?.
- 86 percent think that selling print will be primarily a face-to-face event. Print is a commodity and commodities are never sold face-to-face. The industry-wide refusal to accept this is simple self-deception. But the refusal to accept the emergence of a demand-driven market for content products -- and to grasp its impact on traditional sales, manufacturing and delivery -- is suicidal. It means they are giving no thought to competing against the future and are taking no steps to prepare for the inevitable.
- 52 percent think their average run length will be 5,000 or more in the year 2020. Only 21 percent think it will be under 1,000. R.R. Donnelley, Quebecor/World, and a few others will undoubtedly continue to crank out print runs in the millions, and specialty markets like packaging, tickets, and game/sports cards will thrive on long runs. (Notice what all these have in common -- they are hard products, not "information" products.) Direct-mail will also remain strong. But there will no longer be enough market or margin in long-run printing to support more than a handful of players.
The future of print will arrive whether the industry approves or not. All this study shows is that most of today's players won't be around to participate.
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