Canon Q4 profit jumps, sees further recovery

If it wasn't for cameras...yeah, I know its a Polaroid.
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TOKYO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Canon Inc (7751.T) said its quarterly profit more than doubled as brisk digital camera sales more than offset sluggish demand for copiers, and forecast its first annual profit growth in three years.


October-December operating profit at Canon, the world's largest digital camera maker ahead of Sony Corp (6758.T), was 92.13 billion yen ($1.03 billion) versus 35.83 billion yen a year earlier. It was the company's first year-on-year profit gain in nine quarters.

Canon enjoyed strong sales of its single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, a high-end model with interchangeable lenses, but demand for copiers and printers has yet to strongly revive as businesses worldwide curb spending on office machines.

For 2010, Canon said it expects its operating profit to rise 52 percent to 330 billion yen, beating the consensus for a profit of 319.8 billion yen in a poll of 21 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares in Canon, which competes with Xerox Corp (XRX.N) and Ricoh Co Ltd (7752.T) in copiers and printers, closed down 2.8 percent before the announcement. The Tokyo market's electrical machinery index .IELEC.T fell 1.6 percent. ($1=89.24 Yen) (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka)

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MPSA 1st Webinar - Photizo: Managed Print Services in 2010 - "...the year of the Channel..."

Your MPSA conducted it's first Higher Education webinar.

Ed Crowley from Photizo presented his view of the year to come.

Attendance was strong, the questions pertinent.

Some of the news, ominous.

Not a crystal ball in sight.

Here are some tidbits...

In 2009 MPS moved from a "sales and marketing" program into a Core offering for most MPS Practices - and this will accelerate in 2010.

MPS is moving to the mid-market.

Customers are driving into the third Stage, Enhance the Business Process and software is the way.

The "definition" subject came up - one question, "...what is MPS? Fleet management, CPC ?" Ed's response, "...it's more then the fleet, it includes BPO, document flow and all the items of Stage 3..."

Scale? Systems need to be scaled from the 100's of devices up to 1,000's of devices; this is evolving.

80% of dealers are still "testing" the MPS market - remote meter reads only. A small percentage of dealers are managing their fleets. Not just marketing, not just a sales program, MPS is a change in business model. This is holding most dealers back.

Ed predicts that by 2013, 50% of resellers in North America will be out of business due to inability to be successful with MPS.

The MPS market will exceed $32 billion in revenues in 2010.

Finally, 2010 is the year of the Channel.

MPS as a practice, has evolved from a marketing scheme, or technique into a full blown, functional business model - we are at critical mass - MPS is being taken seriously now. We will see more and more emphasis on those, in the channel, who adapted to MPS, implementing a full practice.

"Hybrid Dealers" will start to take shape and form, with one national Hybrid dealer emerging in the next 3 years.
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This was a very informative session. Coupled with the recent Lyra content, the times are changing, again, the future ain't what it use to be, again.

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Governor French Academy: You Want to Cheat Kids? You Pay 1.2 Million.

This story I brought to you back in August.

Seems one of our colleagues decided to work the "leasing shell game" screwing kids out of dollars.

This is despicable.

The judge thought so too stating to the accused, "...You had knowledge, you had intent, look at the tsunami you've left in your wake."

If this case is not bad enough, according to testimony Welch, the bad guy, is accused of defrauding several other institutions, including the Christian Activities Center in East St. Louis, the Okawville Senior Center in Okawville and the Sparta and Oakland community school districts.


BELLEVILLE -- An Okawville man accused of orchestrating an elaborate photocopier scam was ordered Tuesday to pay $1.2 million to a private school in Belleville.

In a courtroom packed with students and parents from Governor French Academy, St. Clair County Associate Judge Andrew Gleeson told Kevin Welch that his actions over the last decade showed a pattern of, at the very least, intentionally confusing customers about the leasing agreements he set up as part of his copier business.

"You had knowledge, you had intent," Henry said. "Look at the tsunami you've left in your wake."

In the civil suit, Governor French Academy accused Welch of creating a pyramid scheme of copier leases. Welch allegedly got the school to lease two copiers, and the school then signed leases for what they believed to be new machines, with payment going to Welch.

When new copiers were needed, the suit alleged, Welch replaced them and said the new lease agreements nullified the old ones. But Welch neither paid off the old leases nor returned the old machines to the leasing companies.

Welch, representing himself, denied wrongdoing, saying that the school should have understood the lease terms. "I had no intent of damaging these people at all," he said.

School attorney Kevin Stine said the seven lease agreements for 14 copiers that Governor French signed left the school with more than $500,000 in bills to leasing companies.

Moreover, according to testimony in the one-day bench trial Tuesday, Welch is accused of defrauding several other institutions, including the Christian Activities Center in East St. Louis, the Okawville Senior Center in Okawville and the Sparta and Oakland community school districts.

The judge said that the testimony persuaded him to add $700,000 in punitive damages over the school's losses. "It scares me what you've testified to," Gleeson said. "I need to send a message."

Parents and students watched the proceedings, and the judge commented before the lunch recess on the strong attendance.

Parent Deile Smith said that what Welch did to the school was more personal than business. "What he did was put a very good school in jeopardy of closing its doors," Smith said. "As a parent, it angers me."

The school had said last fall that Welch's fraud could send it into bankruptcy.

Welch said during his testimony that he was in dire financial straits. He left the courtroom without comment after Gleeson's verdict.

A spokesman for the Illinois attorney general said the state is investigating Welch's scheme.

Governor French Academy files another suit alleging fraud in copier lease: Marlin Leasing
A "Pyramid Scheme" in Copiers - The Struggles of Governor French Academy Continue
More Copier Leasing Crime: How Would You Like to Be Sued By SEVEN Leasing Companies?



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3-D "Printers" - You and I would look at this and say, "that ain't no printer...it's a replicator from Star Trek"

2010

"that ain't no printer...it's a replicator from Star Trek"

Except for the one I just saw, at one of the most prestigious school's of design(and a current client) in the world, uses an Epson printhead.

Huh.

I was interrupting her lunch - my tour of Otis included all floors and the wood shop. Off the wood shop, my ad-hoc tour guide, pointed out the school's 3-D printers.

Having only heard of such things, I had to see and query whoever was around. How does this thing work and how is it being used by the students, I wondered.

What's In Store For You in 2010? Your MPSA Doesn't Have a Crystal Ball, We Got Ed - ;-)

Good Times? Bad Times? Which One of These?

Last year, at the 2008 MPS Conference in San Antonio Texas, Ed (CEO, Photizo Group) claimed that 2009 would be the "Year of MPS". I was there, I heard it and saw the slide-deck with my own eyes.


True to prediction, MPS is the hottest thing going, well at least in terms of discussion groups and industry buzz - hell, even iTEX is talking about the "hybrid-dealer". Ed should have trademarked the term. Anyway.

Your MPSA is hosting a quick Webinar, January 28th 11:00 AM EST - which of course means I will be attending in a bath-robe and leopard thong, feet up on the desk, sipping my java.

Aren't you happy we ain't doing the webcam thing?

Go here. Register for the Photizo Webinar.

While your at it, RSVP for the webinar February 28th, "The Anatomy of an MPS Deal" presented by Great America - good peeps all around.

Yeah, I doubt the young, bikini clad ball-gazers will be there, but you never know.

The DeathOfPrint or Just a Nap?

Stats from IDC.

I would take caution in our tone, when referring to the mythical "recovery".

The future ain't what it use to be.
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According to researcher, Jake Wang, of IDC:

- “Starting with the fourth quarter of 2008, we saw a definite drop in printer page outputs”

IDC uses computer software to monitor the use of 700,000 printers and MFPs in the U.S.

“It was like going over a waterfall.”

Total of 1.5 trillion pages for the year, or 5,000 sheets of printouts per man, woman & child.

Predicts drop of 10% in 2010.

“When an economy sheds million of workers, there are that many employees who aren’t doing the printing”

“I’m thinking fewer contracts are signed. Fewer documents sent from one person to another”

Expects increase in 2011 after the recovery.

Forrester Research predicts that electronic bank statements will start declining in 2010.

In 2007, the Securities & Exchange Commission stopped requiring corporations to mail out printed annual reports to shareholders.

As initially reported by: Neal Petermann CDIA+