In launching a new automatic supplies-fulfillment service, Brother has targeted that one frustration everyone who uses a printer understands: running out of ink or toner in the middle of a print job. Brother Refresh leverages the smart “predictive technology” on more than 70 of the company’s printers and all-in-ones to deliver “a convenient solution that
Name a manmade product, and chances are good there is some intellectual property (IP) involved. And companies with patented goods are all looking for ways to protect their products from infringers. The printer consumables industry is no exception. While printers themselves are patented, so too are the consumables they use. Printer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
On August 16, HP Inc. announced “a historic deal with Shutterfly,” the online photo-printing and photo-services giant. Shutterfly has named HP as its preferred digital press provider and will be adding “a second phase of HP Indigo 12000 Digital Presses.” HP’s relationship with Shutterfly stretches back to at least 2002 (see press release), when HP was
Earlier this week, news broke that Photizo Group was overburdened with debt and that Meritus Ventures (the company’s senior secured creditor) would repossess and sell Photizo’s assets to a new company called Virtulytix, Inc. that had been set up by Edward Crowley, Photizo’s CEO (see “Photizo Group’s Assets Reportedly to Be Repossessed and Sold by
On August 16, Clover Imaging Group (CIG) announced the opening of a distribution center in Aurora, CO. The new facility is expected to open on August 21. The company is billing the move as part of its plan to strategically expand its distribution network across the United States. Indeed, CIG’s online map of its distribution and
“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried the titular Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It is a sentiment we share whenever we peer down the rabbit hole that is Epson’s lawsuit against an alleged ring of inkjet cartridge counterfeiters in Nevada. The case immediately captured our attention because such a large cartridge counterfeiting operation inside the United
ECi Software Solutions, a Fort Worth, TX-based company that provides managed print services (MPS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB) across the distribution, field services, building and construction, and manufacturing industries, has a new owner. London and New York-based private-equity firm Apax Partners LLP announced this week that
The Recycler reports that Photizo Group’s assets will be repossessed and sold by Meritus Ventures and then those assets will be used to set up a new company. Photizo Group (photizogroup.com) is a Kentucky-based analyst group focused on managed print services (MPS) and the imaging industry. Meritus Ventures (www.meritusventures.com) is a venture capital fund that
On August 14, Fujifilm Holdings reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The quarter follows a rough 2016. While Fujifilm’s revenue shrank and its operating income decreased modestly in 2016, the big story last fiscal year was the accounting scandal related to the firm’s Fuji Xerox New Zealand and Australia subsidiaries (see
On August 14, International Data Corporation (IDC) announced that Western Europe’s hardcopy peripheral (printer and MFP) market finally returned to shipment growth in the second quarter of 2017. The last time that IDC reported an uptick in hardcopy peripheral shipments in Western Europe was the first quarter of 2015 (see “IDC Reports a Good Start
