Perhaps this week’s biggest print-related story is the partnership between Cartridge World and Samsung. Together, it seems that the two firms plan to place mobile-print-enabled printers and MFPs in various wireless hotspots to serve the growing number of remote and mobile workers, as well as consumers who are on the go and may need to print.

We first heard about Cartridge World’s plan in a May interview with Cartridge World franchisee Gergory J. Carafello on the SmartCEO website. In the interview, Mr. Carafello revealed that Cartridge World’s next endeavor would be “community printing,” a term he said that Cartridge World has trademarked. In the interview, Mr. Carafello explained that a growing number of people work from places like Starbucks and Panera and occasionally need to print from their mobile devices or laptops. Mr. Carafello said that Cartridge World would place, provide toner for, and maintain printers at these locations through its No-Cost Printer Program (see “Cartridge World Promotes No-Cost Printer Lease”). Customers would thus be able to print at these locations using a “community printing app.” The SmartCEO article also noted, but provided no specifics about, a deal between Cartridge World and Samsung.

On June 9, Cartridge World issued an announcement related to the fulfillment of these plans. The firm issued a press release about Samsung’s leadership in mobile technology through its popular smartphones and mobile payment technology. The press release added, “The two organizations [Cartridge World and Samsung] have partnered to develop a mobile app that gives workers who use public Wi-Fi the chance to securely print and scan documents while on the road.”

More detail came on June 13, when Cartridge World announced a new mobile printing app, called PrintWorld, to be unveiled at the International Franchise Expo this week in New York. PrintWorld is the app mentioned in the earlier Cartridge World announcement.

The June 13 press release hails the app as “the brainchild of new Global CEO Steve Weedon” who contracted Samsung to develop the app. Cartridge World says that the app “features the convenience of full printer functionality for hard copy printing and scanning facilities for use by anyone with a smartphone, tablet, or laptop that are away from their office or normal work base location.” While the press release is short on specifics, it promises that the PrintWorld app “will ultimately revolutionize the printing industry.”

This, of course, is no small claim. As for how this revolution will happen, that seems to be dependent on the second phase of Mr. Weedon’s plan for the Cartridge World/Samsung partnership, which calls for Cartridge World “to work directly with Samsung to place thousands of printers in free Wi-Fi areas across the U.S. and, in the future, the globe.” The company adds that ideal partners for PrintWorld printer placement include transportation hubs, retailers, shopping malls, and academic institutions.

A bold plan, to be sure. Almost equally bold is the press release’s claim that Cartridge World, which has 400 stores in North America and 1,000 stores worldwide, will add 3,000 stores by 2019. If achieved, this would mark an enormous change for the franchise, which has seen a large number of stores close both in the United States and abroad. According to Entrepreneur.com, in 2008 Cartridge World had 681 franchises in the United States and 1,015 outside the United States. In 2010, the number of overseas franchises hit a high point of 1,042, even as U.S franchises sank to 629. As of 2016, Entrepreneur.com says that Cartridge World has 382 U.S. franchises and 673 outside the United States. So, in 2016, Cartridge World’s U.S. franchises are down 44 percent from their zenith, while overseas franchises are down 35 percent.

Samsung, too, has been experiencing some challenges in recent years in its printer and MFP business. The low-end laser business in general, and Samsung’s in particular, are in a state of decline. While Samsung has been refocusing on higher-volume A3 and A4 MFPs for businesses, the steep downturn seen in the low end of its business mean that Samsung is seeing its overall market share decline. For example, IDC reported that in 2015, Samsung saw a 22.4 percent decline in printer and MFP shipments and that as a result its market share dipped from 5.2 to 4.3 percent (see “IDC Report Sees Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market Down Again in Q4 2015”). Samsung’s shipment declines accelerated in the first quarter of 2016, according to IDC (see “Latest IDC Report Sees Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market Down for an Eighth Straight Quarter”).

Tough Times Make for Interesting Bedfellows

Partnerships between OEMs and aftermarket supplies firms are certainly nothing new—witness Clover’s business providing remanufactured cartridges to OEMs like Konica Minolta, Toshiba, and Xerox, for example. However, it does seem like two factors, the rise of managed print services (MPS) and tough times for the printer and supplies industry as a whole, are making these types of partnerships between OEMs and third-party supplies firms more commonplace.

Earlier this year, we saw perhaps the biggest and most surprising example of an OEM and aftermarket firm teaming up with the news that Lexmark will be acquired by a consortium of Chinese investors led by Apex Technology (see “It’s Official: Apex to Acquire Lexmark”).

The Cartridge World and Samsung partnership is much less unusual, in comparison, particularly if you look at the migration of the firms’ businesses over the years. Cartridge World began primarily as a retail inkjet cartridge refiller. Over the years, the franchise model shifted away from on-site refilling for consumers toward providing remanufactured cartridges, particularly to local businesses. More recently, Cartridge World has been positioning itself more like an MPS provider with its No-Cost Printer Lease Program. In 2015, Cartridge World was acquired by Chinese OPC manufacturer Suzhou Goldengreen Technologies (SGT) (see “Suzhou Goldengreen Is New Cartridge World Shareholder”). Meanwhile, as noted above, Samsung has tried to shift from being a major provider of ultra-low cost laser printers to a maker of robust A4 and A3 MFPs for enterprises with its own managed print program in order to compete against the big copier vendors. So both companies have moved in somewhat similar directions, away from consumer printing toward targeting higher-volume businesses, and they face similar pressures in the form of overall declining demand for print and tough competition for the pages that remain.

For over a decade now, OEMs have talked about placing printers in mobile hotspots such as coffee shops, hotels, and airports. While some printers are available in public hotspots, such devices are not widespread. When, if ever, is the last time you saw a printer at your local Wi-Fi-enabled coffee shop or restaurant? If Cartridge World’s network of franchises can get more public hotspots to place printers, both Cartridge World and Samsung stand to benefit.

More Questions Than Answers

But will the PrintWorld app and the Cartridge World/ Samsung partnership truly prove as revolutionary as Cartridge World promises or will this be just one more mobile app that is announced with much fanfare and gradually flames out? Will we actually see lots of hardware placed in mobile hotspots as a result of this partnership? If so, will that hardware actually be utilized or will this be similar to the retail cartridge refilling equipment boom and bust in which stores rushed to offer inkjet refilling services and then underutilized refilling equipment gathered dust at locations like Walgreens and OfficeMax for a number of years before the equipment was yanked?

With details scant on the Cartridge World and Samsung partnership and their plans, we are reserving judgment on how this new alliance will fare. At this point, we have more questions than answers. Specifically, we are wondering:

• What are the details about the new PrintWorld App? With what devices from what manufacturers will it be compatible? Will it support printing on only Samsung printers or MFPs or will it support printing from other vendors’ hardware as well?
• If “phase two” of the plan is for Cartridge World to work directly with Samsung to place printers, does that mean customers will have the option of placing only Samsung hardware? Or will they be able to choose other printer brands that Cartridge World sells?
• If Samsung devices are placed in hotspots under the partnership, will Cartridge World sell businesses OEM toner for these machines or aftermarket? If the former, how will this impact the promise that the No-Cost Printer Lease program can save customers 20 to 30 percent on printing supplies? If the latter, how does participation in the program ultimately benefit Samsung, which won’t then see sales of replacement cartridges for these devices?
• Will it be up to individual Cartridge World franchisees to do the legwork of selling “ideal partners” on the notion of installing printers under the No-Cost Printer Lease Program? Or will Cartridge World corporate or even Samsung negotiate deals with other big franchises such as Starbucks and the like? In other words, is hardware going to be placed in dribs and drabs as individual franchises make individual deals with the local coffee shop or are we going to see any big hardware placements across large numbers of locations?
• Cartridge World promises that its local franchises will maintain printers, but will local business welcome having one more thing for customers to complain about and their employees to worry about? In other words, will your local Panera really want its workers distracted by customers complaining about printer jams and toner-out conditions or asking for help on getting their mobile devices to print to the printer? We presume this will be a legitimate concern for many, and what the partners will do to alleviate it is uncertain.
• What will Cartridge World and Samsung do to drive usage and actually ensure that printers in mobile hotspots are used? If the answer is nothing, there is the potential devices will be placed only later to be removed.

These are our some of our initial questions about the deal. We hope answers emerge in the months ahead as the Cartridge World and Samsung partnership progresses.