Tidbits

- Secret Service agents arrested 8 people in Minnesota for making fake $100 bills with color copier and attempting to sell them to an undercover agent. The ringleader was Vincent D. Tampio.

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- Xerox announced it won a contract from Cisco Corp.
o managed print services contract
o 460 locations
o Goal of 20% cost reduction
o Implemented automated behavior modification popups
o Includes proximity card authentication

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- DocuWare, maker of document management software, announced that they are moving to a cloud-based product only.
o This means that their goal is to only market their product as a monthly subscription, and support would be on-line and/or over the phone from DocuWare Corp..
o Some dealers have complained as this business model greatly reduces profits, as compared to a large one time sale of software and possibly hardware
o Instead of on going revenue stream from on-site support from dealer service technicians/specialists, the DocuWare captures aftermarket revenue, and only pays a spiff to dealer

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- Kodak, which announced that last quarter it lost $179 million, is suing Apple and Research In Motion for $1 billion. Kodak hopes to secure a $1billion licensing deal regarding a patent it owns that it claims is used illegally in the Apple iPhone and the RIM Blackberry cell phone.

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- Lexmark reported its last quarter’s financials:
o total revenue up 1% to 1.04 billion
o Net income declined 0.9% to $344 million
o Debt climbed 44% to $649 million
o Gross profit margin was 39.6%
o Operating income margin of 13.2%
o Supplies revenue up 3%
o Hardware revenue declined 9%
o Software revenue up 33% (result of acquiring Perceptive imageNOW document management software company)

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- Canon gave out more details on its inability to supply some models due to impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami:
o 2000 and 5000 series of color imageRUNNER ADVANCE models in short supply
o 6000 series of b/w imageRUNNER ADVANCE models in short supply
o 1025 desktop model in short supply
o Biggest challenge is the third party company which made ASICs (applied set instruction chips) which are the “brains” of the above models, was severely impacted by the earthquake in northern Japan
o Canon’s leasing division, called Canon Financial Services, is now selling used models from lease returns to Canon dealers to help fill demand

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- Xerox announced that it has hired former President of Kyocera Mita USA, Mike Pietrunti, as VP of Acquisitions for its Global division to replace the retiring Paul Schulman. Mike will report to Tom Salierno.

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- According to a survey conducted by PC Advisor magazine, the number one use for color printers at home is to print out photos/posters, or 88% of respondents.

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- Hewlett Packard announced that it is exploring either a spinoff or the sale of its personal computer division. IT will also apparently abandon efforts to sell tablets or smartphones that compete with Apple.
o The PC division has revenue of $9.59 billion, but not very profitable (only 5%) as it struggled to compete against Asian manufacturers
o Will take recently spent $1.2 billion to buy Palm Inc. to add to this division
o Had grown the PC division in the past by spending $25 billion to buy Compaq

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