Xerox + Espresso is not about the box. The value is the Network.

This morning, I came across this:

@proprint Xerox to sell Espresso Book Machine: Xerox has signed an agreement to sell the Espresso Book Machine http://bit.ly/5Up04p

Replying to a comment to yesterday's post I said,

I agree that if the name of the game was selling boxes it's not a big deal. But the way I read the releases Xerox will be selling the Espresso, not merely supplying the boxes.

That's a much bigger deal.

The defensible value of the Espresso are the contracts that Jason Epstein has made with the publishers. Once those are in place, I agree that the machinery can be easily replicated by any other vendor.

With Xerox's purchase of ACS they have made it crystal clear that going forward the value is MPS. If Xerox is the channel for selling expresso how hard would it be to role in a special deal for including an Espresso as part of an MPS contract?

Consider if Xerox adds an Espresso to their offerings in education and government MPS. I would keep a look out to see if they get one of the school book publishers to come on board. If and I think when they do, it means customized textbooks delivered with no logistics and very little sales expense directly to the school building or district.

Ursula and her team realize that margins on boxes and toner are going to be very slim. But margins on MPS are defensible and supply a nice stream of recurring revenue.

In a tweet this am I said this:

in Queensland: stdnts are publishing their books as part of the govs project. http://ilnk.me/153b || With #Xerox+Espresso it would be EZ.

My bet is that the Espresso Deal will do for Xerox what the Docutech did back in the day.

The conversation started on Friday with the announcement that Xerox will be selling the Espresso. On Friday Noel Ward did a story at GAM and Printweek.com reported in the UK. On Saturday, Cary Sherburne did a post at PrintCEO. All of the stories are well worth the read.

At any rate, here's my two cents at PrintCeo.

When I saw the announcement it recalled the feeling I had when I saw the first story about the Docutech in the Wall Street Journal.

It seems that this deal is the docutech reinvented for a networked society. The money sentence to me is “we believe fully distributed solutions will become an integral part of the supply chain.”

It’s the same idea of a mature “distribute and print” model the industry has been talking about for years. But until the web matured it was a vision instead of a strategy.

O’Reilly has said that the web is now moving into the real world. He calls it “Web squared.” QR codes are an on ramp from the print to the web. The Espresso/Xerox deal is one off ramp from the web to print.

One can only assume that once the Xerox engineers take a really close look at the output box, it will get more and more efficient. One can also safely assume that if Xerox sales gets involved it will get less and less expensive.

One interesting question going forward is how Xerox will integrate selling Espresso with their PSPs. The natural would be to sell through the MFP channel.

I’m hoping they are figuring out a method to use their Premier Partners to add the Espresso offering to increase the PP value to their clients.

Espresso Deal for BIg X may be Docutech 2010

When I first heard about the Xerox and Espresso deal yesterday, I looked at through the lens of selling boxes. But today, I saw the article at PrintWeek with the much bigger story : Xerox to sell Espresso Book Machine | printweek.com "

I think it's a natural for every college book store in the States to have one or two Espresso Book Machines. Just needs a deal between XRX and BN.

Moving forward why not every CRD in every school district?

I still remember the feeling I got when I read about the Docutech in the Wall Street Journal. It gave me the chills when it was described as a book machine. I have to say I had the same feeling yesterday.

Xerox to sell Espresso Book Machine | printweek.com "
Xerox has signed an agreement to sell the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), the revolutionary on-demand book printer, alongside its Xerox 4112 printer.

The worldwide distribution agreement heralds a major step forward for EBM manufacturer On Demand Books, which released the first version of the machine in 2006."

Xerox Rocks! And it's not about ACS.

So between this and that I checked in at Twitter and found this:

@APKO

Xerox and On Demand Books will jointly market and sell, on a worldwide basis, the Xerox 4112(tm) Copier/Printer... http://bit.ly/6B6r7a

So then I Googled Xerox and On Dmeand books and got to this:

Xerox Technology to Fuel Espresso Book Machine; Worldwide Agreement Includes Global Marketing and Sales Support:

"ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)

- Xerox Corporation's (NYSE: XRX) digital technology will bring speed and exceptional image quality to books produced on demand by the patented Espresso Book Machine(R). This cutting-edge book solution, sold by On Demand Books, LLC, produces millions of copyrighted, public domain, out-of-print, or rare texts for consumers in a matter of minutes."

There's a pretty good chance that On Demand books will finally bring to life the book machine at the point of the buyer. That means inventory problems go away for small bookstores. It could also mean books printed at the CRD for school districts.

It's still a little tricky to figure out what it means for Big X's PSPs. If it were me, I would do a sweet deal so they could offer instant books for their customers. But however it plays out, this could be a banner day for big X.

Enuff already with "Market Service Provider." Think like Benjamin Franlin.

Jeff Jarvis said " Do what you do best, and leave the rest."

Bartash Inc. are not "market service providers." They are imaginative business oriented Printers, just like Ben Franklin.

Press Release at WhatTheyThink.

Sidney Simon, owner and CEO of Bartash Inc., Philadelphia’s largest coldset web printer, " When we studied the list of approximately 300 publications that we print, we immediately saw patterns that are ideal for national advertisers. Singly, many of these regional and niche publications don’t have the circulation numbers to entice the largest insert advertisers, but through the Bartash ROI™ program, advertisers can achieve the response they want.”

Enuff already with "Print is Dead" and "XYZ" is the next big thing. Just follow the money.

I have a feeling that 2010 will finally be the time to retire a couple of buzzwords that obscure what's going on. My first nomination is "Print is Dead." My second is "Market Service Provider".

As I've said since January 2009, when I first started blogging, Printers print. To survive and thrive it means printing better, faster and cheaper than the other guy. And it means inventing new uses for Print, not trying to make believe we're something we're not.

Rather than a long blah blah, I thought it might be useful to share some numbers.

Consolidated Graphics (CGX) is up 92.47% since 8/20 and McClatchey (MNI) is up 773.28% since 4/15 . Check out some of the other stocks in my IRA printernet portfolio to see what I'm seeing.

Welcome to 2010. "two HP Indigo 7000 replace less-efficient analog offset systems

This came over the transom this morning.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 7, 2010 – HP today announced that Capitol City Press, Tumwater, Wash., has installed two HP Indigo 7000 digital presses with HP SmartStream workflow solutions, replacing less-efficient analog offset systems.

It shouldn't be a surprise that it happened just outside of Seattle. The future often happens first in the American Northwest. What caught my attention is

The new HP Indigo 7000s now print the 750,000 four-color sheets per month that Capitol City previously ran on three older, small offset presses.

For Capitol City it sounds like the decision was based on better, faster, cheaper to meet their present customer's needs. This was not about "reinventing themselves" to become "market service providers."

It was about doing what they already know how to do. Just doing it better and more efficiently.

Holistic Quantum Reality? I must be kidding Actually, I'm not.

The point is to have humility in the face of complexity. What name you give it is up to you.

Since the outlines for the next stage of print are now pretty clear (Mobile computing takes the web into the real world. Print lives in the real world. As Print connects to the web, it's all good.) And since the market is calming done (McClatchey went from around .80 to over 4.00 last time I looked.)

It leaves a little space to get into really interesting questions. The following is a copy and paste from http://ilnk.me/HQR1

In my humble opinion, it's exactly on the right track. Yes, it may sounds nuts to "serious people who have to make a living and have important meetings to go to."

But have you ever had a chance to do a little read of Quantum Theory? If you want nuts, that's nuts. Only thing is that it's true.

Copy and Paste follows:

What is Holistic Quantum Relativity?

Since many have asked for a simple explanation of HQR, this is an
attempt at providing it, with heartfelt apologies for all errors and
omissions.

The Absolute is indefinable, nameless, formless, wordless, soundless,
although when it comes into expression it is known by different Names!

Let us take a table. What is it essentially made of? Wood on the
surface and underlying that... what? Energy! Why? Let us examine the
wood under a powerful electron microscope. What is it made of? Carbon
and hydrogen atoms amongst other types connected to each other with
what? Energy bonds and vast open spaces... What are the carbon atoms
made of? A nucleus and polarised charge clouds with electrons etc
and... what? Energy packets and vast open spaces... What is the
nucleus made of? Sub-atomic particles and... what? Quantised energy
and vast open spaces!

Beyond the 1920s we referred to the nucleus as a collection of protons
and neutrons enveloped by an electron charge cloud and step by step we
have put so many designer labels on the sub-parts -- sub-nuclear
particles -- that at last count there were at least 100+ different
names for such energy particles and growing!

Now, as we go deeper... and observe: the sub-atomic particles -- all
flavours -- are just forms of packet (Quantum) energy connected with
each other as Happenings, ie, "Haps" manifest as pulsating particles
or waves depending on how we look at them or don't! [Heisenberg ist
wunderbar!]

The "Haps" are the sequence in which the entire universe connects to
create a grand holographic story, yes, the illusion of duality, which
when looked at holistically is all just One space-time continuum of
energy, which can be expressed as a grand manifestation of light or
cosmic vibration simultaneously appearing and disappearing as matter,
based on the illusory lens of observation set at simultaneous multiple
planes of consciousness! No wonder, at first glance, it makes no
sense. It confuses, disturbs and we end up being doubtful! No need to
be doubtful of inherent volatilities or ripples in the pond, which is
just a metaphor for the "Grand Narrative"!

What is HQR suggesting in a nutshell?

We ignore micro- and macro- layers, connections and connectivity at
our peril because this is the interwoven fabric of the entire
universe! As we evolve, the more we are able to connect with our
within. Beyond people, events, places, stories, facts, fiction,
things etc we re-create nascent haps in our mind-spirit matrix as
suliminal and then neural networks. Step by step, everything appears
connected within a "Grand Narrative." All becomes Holistic when we
align the without with our within. The past, present and future merge
into one when the immanent spirit triumphs over logic and the creative
spark overtakes the mundane banality of our tedium-inspired illusory
entrapment!

Holos is not just "Whole", it is essentially about recognising
perfection: Why? The so called good, bad and ugly do not exist but
only do so in the duality of our mind's perception. Holistically, all
is there for a perfectly valid reason or completely not there for a
perfectly valid reason manifest as Synchronicity! Perfectly timed,
perfectly placed, perfectly connected!

If we were to revisit the original 30+ HQR Socratic dialogues what we
would find is that even these humble thoughts have been expressed
within them. Everything is connected with everything else and that is
the "Grand Narrative" of our existence. Once we are able to recognise
the Quantum nature of Energy, the Relativity of our existence
suspended in an illusory -- disconnected -- duality of the mind (an
entrapment) and that our true essence, the spirit, is Holistic and no
different from the Cosmic Origin of the entire universe and beyond --
The Supra Universal Consciousness -- we are then able to recognise
that Holistic Quantum Relativity = Spirit Mind Connectivity.

Within the dynamic HQR of our trinitised existence: The Father is the
Supra Universal Consiousness (Divine and Primordial Awareness at all
Eight planes); The Son is the Universal Consciousness (Director of
Mental Awareness at Three lower planes); and The Spirit is the
Consciousness (Individual Spirit or Soul's Awareness entrapped at a
restricted number of lower planes) made Holy via the "Word" or
"Vibration".

The teachings of Sant Mat "Way of the Saints" suggest that creation
occurs through primordial "Vibration", a vibratory principle, known in
various languages as "Naam", "Shabda", "Kalma", "Logos", and "Word",
and that individual salvation and enlightenment is achieved when the
human soul is put into contact with it through the agency of a Great
Spiritual Master who has that principle fully manifest within ("Word
made flesh"). Sant Mat masters state the Holy Spirit also mentioned in
several Holy books, refers to this principle, citing many passages
referring to "baptism in the Holy Spirit", revelations received while
"in the Spirit", and Great Spiritual Masters and Philosopher
Scientists -- Socrates, Pythagoras, Buddha, Lao Tse Tsu, Jesus,
Maulana Rumi, Kabir and Kirpal et al -- curing with the Spirit as
indications that they were conferring initiation into the esoteric
practice of the "Word" - Surat Shabda Yoga - Soul Vibration Union
during their lifetimes.

The moment the Spirit recognises that it is none other than a part of
the Supra Universal Consciousness and acts as such, the duality
imposed by the mental faculties is removed step by step. There is a
rich narrative of connectivity going all the way back to creation put
together Holistically with perfection, Quantised by Time and Energy,
and then re-presented as Relativity as a Space-Time Continnum
connected across multiple planes, which we cannot externally visualise
as ONE, but only in our within and then alone via our "Rising
Consciousness" that:

"Yes! We are indeed all One-in-All and All-in-One!"

Maybe HP or Oce/Canon will reinvent education

While wandering on a path that started in the twitter stream, I came upon, HelloBrand. The path was a little complicated, but in any case I got the page that lead to the following tweet.

#HP Snapfish as augmented by @Hello_World http://ilnk.me/117d is almost precisely what is needed to reinvent textbooks in USA.

Turns out that HelloBrand worked on the Snapfish update that allows a user to get a printed version of their photographs. I assume but don't know that Kodak has a similar functionality. The point is that it's become pretty clear by now that the new opportunity for Print is to publish XML into the real world for wider effect.

Given the massive fleet of Indigos around the world and HP's recent launch of a website that makes it easy for anyone in the world to find the HP PSP most convenient, it seems that all the pieces are in place.

On the other hand, Oce has a significant fleet of digital newspaper output PSPs around the world. With the emergence of Niiu in Berlin, the pathway seems clear. As I understand it Niiu version 1.0 is optimized for PDF. My bet is that Version 2.0 or 3.0 will be optimized for XML.

As that develops, it means that even more web content will be organized by XML. That's where the knowledge management folks come in. My twitter friend in the Netherlands is @weknowmore.

So then I tweeted:

By way of introduction @niiu_community meet @Weknowmore meet @Hello_World. You're all in NorthWest Euroland.

Why did Canon buy Oce? Because of Ingram.

My understanding is that Oce machinery powers digital book production for Ingram. I think I read a while ago that Ingram bought about 20 machines to set up in London. (should be confirmed).

In any case, the CEO of Ingrams is not distracted by PrintIsDead blah blah.

From Tennessean.com
Skip Prichard, president and CEO of Ingram Content Group in La Vergne, heads up an array of companies for the Ingram family that have been on the front lines of book manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing in a fast-changing new media landscape.

With a background in digital content and a law degree, Prichard now finds himself, after 2½ years at Ingram, presiding over a restructured company with an international sales reach.

It's a long article. If you're still not convinced, you can find it here