Nikkei Market Share Rankings: Google overtakes Yahoo Japan; Canon Leads Inkjet Printer Category
Google overtook Yahoo Japan as the most crowded PC portal in Japan, according to the Nikkei’s 2014 domestic market share rankings. Robust sales of Pixus home inkjet printers put Canon atop the ink-jet printer category with a market share of 44.7%, 4.4 percentage points higher than rival Seiko Epson.
Walk-Up Printing Made More Efficient and User-Friendly through Expanded Partnership with EFI and Ricoh
Colleges and universities, libraries, retail print shops and other organizations can now offer walk-up printing services thanks to an expanded partnership between EFI and Ricoh Americas where the EFI Self-Serve M500 Copy and Print Station and EFI Self-Serve AdminCentral software are available with select Ricoh devices.
Paced by Facebook, Customer Satisfaction Up for Social-Media Sites
User satisfaction with social media websites is improving, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Facebook, which was the lowest-ranking social-media site in 2012, has climbed to the middle of the pack with the largest improvement since then, driven by growing user satisfaction with its mobile app.
HP to Acquire ActiveState’s Stackato Business to Help Customers Transition to Hybrid Cloud
Stackato’s open technology built on Cloud Foundry PaaS gives HP a more complete cloud offering. By providing developers a single cloud application platform with enterprise-level security and world-class support, Stackato will enhance the HP Helion Development Platform by enabling customers to bring applications to market faster by reducing the amount of time spent on IT configuration.
Printing Paper Demand Down at UPM, International Paper, but Profits Rise
International Paper and UPM released second quarter earnings reports. A weaker euro pushed profits incrementally higher in UPM’s second quarter, but UPM’s paper businesses continued to struggle. UPM reported a 6% decline in sales for its business covering the Europe and North America, which accounts for roughly half of the company’s consolidated sales.
International Paper’s (IP) Printing Papers division said lower Q2 sales were due to a decrease in demand in all regions, with the exception of India.
Industry Calls for More Arrests in Spain
Spain has often been considered by many to be one of the Europe’s easy gateways for patent infringing and counterfeit ink and toner cartridges. Late last week, Spanish Guardia Civil (public security force) seized over 70,000 ink cartridges in 11 industrial units in Numancia de la Sagra, Toledo, Spain. Three Chinese nationals were arrested on charges of intellectual property infringement.
Two Sides report interim success in Anti-Greenwash Campaign
Two Sides have been actively challenging organizations by requesting careful consideration of messages and potentially misleading anti-print and paper statements. Of the 25 organizations identified and challenged, in a campaign that started at the end of May, 21 have responded favorably and removed the misleading claims.
UF Health Shands Hospital Selects Lexmark Vendor Neutral Archive as Foundation for Enterprise Image Management
Gainesville, Florida-based UF Health Shands Hospital will deploy the Lexmark Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) to serve as an enterprise solution for managing medical images across its healthcare facilities and clinics.
PrintFleet Reaches New Revenue Milestone
PrintFleet Inc. has continued its trend of double-digit revenue growth by investing in new product releases and enhancements and by expanding their list of distribution channels and OEM partners. PrintFleet has continued to expand its global network of industry-leading partners, recently adding VOW (Vasanta), Pulsar Technology S.A., ACM Technologies and Katun Corporation to PrintFleet’s family of LINK enabled solution partners.
What Tech Giants Are Spending Millions Lobbying For
The enduring issue of patent reform received substantial attention from Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple this quarter, with companies urging lawmakers to address issues like intellectual property protection and patent litigation reform. Immigration issues also topped the list as the companies lobbied the government to create more pathways for high-skilled foreign workers.