TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0816/2 – As Hewlett-Packard announces Q2 growth of 11% over the same period of last year, news breaks that the cash-rich company is buying Global IT Services giant EDS for $25 per share, to make Hewlett-Packard not only the largest IT company in the world but also the largest Global IT Services company. What impact will this acquisition have on the industry and what implications does it have for the printer industry?

Issue #0812/2 - Despite our appetite for all things small and portable, when it comes to A4 office printers, portability is something that does not tend to find a major place in the armoury. Portable printers are few and far between and are pricey in comparison to their desktop companions. Canon and Hewlett-Packard’s latest new models, PIXMA iP100 and Officejet H470 respectively, are small, fast and capable of printing borderless photos at A4. We check out the needs of the travelling businessman and compare the two devices.

Issue #0811/2 – TCPglobal has repeatedly suggested that organisations should consider setting duplex as the default in the office to force duplex printing for all print jobs except those for which the user knows duplex is not appropriate. The assumption would be that this principle would be applied intelligently! An example has come to light of unintelligent application of the principle in a production environment – an action that wastes money!

Issue #0807/1 - Oki is taking the principle of self-creation graphic arts to new levels, in a bid to encourage businesses and organisations to make more of their in-house printing capabilities, with the launch of v-studio – an online library of resources and royalty-free images that builds on its existing Template Manager software.

Issue 0806/3 - According to a recent survey, only 30% of businesses are ‘satisfied’ with their current in-house printer and only a similar proportion are ‘very satisfied’ with the quality of hard copy they achieve from the printer!