Ok, so I just happened to pop in to Xerox to find out what the retail cost for Phaser 8860 ink is, and I see this totally new website. What the? It’s smooth, clean, sexy, looks great. Cool. But then I noticed that the Xerox logo had changed and I knew this wasn’t just a design refresh. Well, turns out Xerox has been reborn.
It really comes as no surprise with all the new and innovative projects that Xerox’s been doing of late, of which the Phaser 8860 is one. Xerox is just killing me; first they offer usability that’s unmatched in their solid ink printers, and we find out that’s good for the environment, then they make color printing perfectly affordable, then they create a sexier brand image than ever! I mean c’mon, how am I every going to be able to buy another printer brand?
Just some quick observations on the new brand. The logo is very noticeably different, the font has switched from all caps (the old logo) to all lower case, and a little off-center ‘x’ icon has been added the right of the name. The website has a distinctly web 2.0 design, and it appears that the company is making an effort to appeal to customers on a more casual level, which of course goes right along with their products being increasingly more user-friendly. The long and short: I suspect Xerox will become an increasingly important player in the printing industry soon, because it appears to me that they are out maneuvering all of the competition.
(I’m fantasizing that I’m writing this post settled in a volcanic hot spring located in that sumptuous southern state, when in fact I’m enrobed in thermal underwear in the agonizingly cruel and blustery Midwest, so please indulge me. Thanks, aloha, and for the Pete’s sake SOMEONE vacuum-seal those windows.)
Anyway, here’s the latest development with Xerox and their master plan of taking over the printing world through common sense and the Phaser 8860. Due to increased demand for their solid ink products, namely the Phaser 8860, Xerox opened a $24 million plant in Portland, Oregon. The plant covers 10,000 sq ft and is largely automated and will help the company keep up with demand as more and more users switch from black and white printing to solid ink color printers. One interesting thing is that the plant employs only 75 workers; and here thousands of Oregonians were anticipating working for the coolest printing company around. Man, efficiency sucks, doesn’t it?
Jim Rise, VP of the Solid Ink Business Unit, gave his views on the opening of the Phaser 8860 Solid Ink plant. “Known for its exceptional image quality and ability to print vibrant colors, solid ink was initially the preferred technology for graphic artists,” Rise was quoted to have said in a press release. “Now, we’ve taken it to a level where solid ink is the affordable, easy to use color printer for businesses of any sort and size. That’s why we’re investing in this new factory; our success in solid ink is really just getting started.” Right on, hopefully. All the more reason for Xerox to keep producing better, faster, cleaner versions of what I like to call “plop and print” solid ink printers. Which doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as “plug and play”, but still works. Right?
Well, Xerox third quarter earnings reports are out and things are looking up, thanks largely to the Phaser 8860. The company will be issuing its first dividend in six years, a positive step in the right direction for a company pulling itself out of a slump. The Xerox release stated that officials expect higher earnings growth in 2008 and 2009, resting largely on the success of the company’s color printer strategy. Anne Mulcahy, the Xerox CEO, said that the company turnaround thus far has been due to the success of their color products (read: Phaser 8860)
According to Mulcahy, color printing is five times more profitable than black and white printing (which explains the insanely expensive HP color ink), and the company’s roll out of 10 new color devices this year takes advantage of that fact. Mulcahy also stated that the company is set to generate $1.5 billion in operating cashflow for 2007, and that they posted third quarter net income of $254 million. This income is down significantly from last year, but overall the company is showing a strong turnaround from its recent troubles.
According to industry experts, 23% of all digital prints will be color in 2012, and account for 50% of all printing industry profits. Xerox is looking to capitalize on the color trend, and the Phaser 8860 is bound to help them accomplish that goal.
Ok, here’s a little something to break up the monotony of the workday. Obviously this video is old, and I’m sure quite a few of you have seen it before, but its still great. Timeless really, because we’ve all felt this way about the office printer at some time. I would hazard a guess though that this little exchange would have been different if this guy were using a Phaser 8860. The video involve the guy opening the front of the 8860, dropping and ink stick, smiling, and then going back to work. And that poor ancient CRT monitor would be able to live another day.
Most people who are up on the printing industry know that Xerox has been carving out a place for itself as the green printing company. Many of its printers are now based on its solid ink technology that it purchased with Tektronix some years ago. Xerox has been touting the ‘greenness’ of the technology since it produces a fraction of the waste that traditional ink and toner cartridges do. Of course anyone familiar with this blog knows that the new brilliant Phaser 8860 also makes use of solid ink technology.
In a move to solidify its green market niche, Xerox has partnered with a startup called GreenPrint, which creates a piece of software designed to reduce unnecessary printing. The software is sort of like MS Word’s print preview that allows users to view the document they’re about to print and exclude unnecessary pages. It also allows them various other money-saver options such as eliminating images from a document. According to GreenPrint, the average company wastes about $90 per year per printer user on extraneous printing, so they feel they have a legitimate money saving app for large corporations.
Xerox saw the inexpensive software as a way to add weight to its green marketing stance for the Phaser 8860, so they’ve begun to package the GreenPrint product with all Phaser 8560 and Phaser 8860 solid ink printers. Such heavyweight backing is great news for GreenPrint, and Xerox is solidifying their green stance in the printing world. It could also mean a winning combination for large companies, who could begin to realize some pretty significant savings with the combined economy of solid ink and GreenPrint software.