Inkjet Wholesale News Update: Mobile Printing Technology Services Launched by Konica Minolta; Kodak Sales Shrink Owing to Currency Fluctuations

Inkjet Wholesale News aims to provide updates on the latest significant occurrences in the field of printing. Whether it’s the launch of a new technology or volatility of market prices, we’ll be here to give you the lowdown on what happened, when it happened, and what it means!

Konica Minolta Introduces New Mobile Printing Technology Services

The trend where all the big Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are improving their mobile printing technology services is continuing in full force currently. However, while most people will see this as a trend that is affecting the direct consumer market, it is actually permeating through every aspect of the printing industry. Notably, one of the areas where OEMs are focusing especially is enterprise level printing services.

Earlier, we had reported on the survey conducted by Samsung on Remote Printing Trends as well as the launch of HP Access Control containing mobility solutions. Now, it’s Konica Minolta’s turn to delve into the world of mobile printing technology.

Konica Minolta has done so by introducing their new mobile printing technology services. The new mobile printing technology services have been titled quite simply but elegantly, EveryonePrint and All Covered.

While these mobile printing technology services take care of a number of mobile printing connectivity needs at the enterprise level, they truly come into their own in companies where employees are allowed or encouraged to bring their own devices to work.

The main challenge with these kinds of setups for most companies is lack of uniformity in devices. The company employees don’t really use any particular type of device. So, making all the different types of devices compatible with existing systems becomes difficult.

Konica Minolta’s mobile printing technology services endeavour to change this fact. These services are being offered by Konica Minolta in four different forms. These include Standalone, Connect, Professional, and Enterprise with each level increasing the flexibility and available features.

1. The Standalone version is the simplest of these four as it provides users with a licence on the basis of a printer. This means that if the user was to get a licence for one his printers, then the printer could be used by unlimited mobile devices.
2. The Connect version is slightly more advanced which makes it suitable for small to medium scale organisations. This version provides licence for a server as opposed to a single printer. Along with this, there are more integration options in the Connect version.
3. The Professional version is even more advanced than the Connect version. It not only provides licence for a single server but also supports Wide Area Printing or complex networks. This version also supports AirPrint and comes with multiple more features such as a Microsoft Office conversion engine.
4. Finally, the most advanced version is the Enterprise version which not only provides licences for unlimited number of printers and servers but also includes all the features mentioned above.

Connectivity is also something that Konica Minolta has focused on while developing its mobile printing technology services. Irrespective of which version from the above is being used, the system will give users five separate ways to print. These include directly from the web, through their emails, via Google Cloud, with their iOS devices, and the conventional method of desktops.

All Covered completes the new mobile printing technology services being offered by Konica Minolta. While EveryonePrint increases functionality and accessibility, All Covered is designed to manage access and secure it at the same time.

Essentially, with All Covered as a part of these mobile printing technology services, the user will be able to monitor all the different mobile devices accessing the company network. Access of various mobile devices can be managed and controlled with these mobile printing technology services as well.

Currency Fluctuations Cause Kodak Overall Sales to Dip

Just like most OEMs active in the world today are focusing on mobile printing technology and services, they are also suffering the brunt of currency fluctuations together.

In our last news report, we spoke about how Canon’s profits had dipped despite the fact that its sales went up in the same period. The reason for Canon’s mixed financial performance in the period was nothing but fluctuating foreign exchange rates.

It seems that the same fate has befallen Kodak’s financial performance. As is natural, the period in question is also the same.

In the second quarter of the current fiscal, Kodak’s overall sales actually took a significant dip of 13 percent dropping to only $458 million.

While on paper the sales of the OEM dropped, according to the company, they remained the same. The logic behind this is that the final numbers actually reflect the adverse foreign exchange rate fluctuations. According to the company, if the impact of these fluctuations were removed, then Kodak sales actually remained flat and steady. At the same time, in order for the sales to remain flat, certain other factors also have to be removed such as the performance of their legacy consumer inkjet business and the one time acquisition of some intellectual property.

While the sales dropped by 13 percent, the OEM actually managed to cut down its losses to a significant level. Kodak’s net losses dropped by more than 60 percent in the second quarter of the last fiscal, coming to rest at $23 million from $62 million.

In terms of individual business divisions, debatably, the best performing was the Enterprise Inkjet Systems division. The company’s Enterprise Inkjet Systems division’s sales only dropped by about 4 percent to $45 million. According to the company, the sales figures of its Enterprise Inkjet Systems division was severely impacted by currency fluctuations. In fact, the OEM said that this division’s sales would have shown a 4 percent increase as opposed to a decrease if the currency fluctuations were taken away from the picture.

The other major division of the OEM, Print Systems division, suffered much more as it saw a drop of 12 percent in its turnover. The total turnover of this division in the second quarter of the current financial year was to the tune of $282 million. However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for this division. As per the OEM, the sale of this division’s Sonora process free plates went up by a whopping 66 percent. Moreover, this division saw the customer base for Sonora process free plates expand by 19 percent.