Why I wish HP would spin off the Print piece.

I got to the following by following links from my ChangeForge daily email alert.

From ONN.TV

A look at HP’s quarterly numbers, by division

Hewlett-Packard Co.’s 25-percent jump in net income in its November-January quarter was driven by better numbers in most of the technology company’s major divisions. Here are some highlights on those divisions:

– Services: Revenue slipped 1 percent to $8.7 billion. Operating profit rose 27 percent to $1.4 billion.

– Printers and ink (Imaging and Printing Group): Revenue rose 4 percent to $6.2 billion. Revenue from ink and other supplies was up 1 percent. Ink is one of HP’s biggest moneymakers. The division’s operating profit was flat at $1.1 billion.

– Computer servers and storage (Enterprise Storage and Servers): Revenue rose 11 percent to $4.4 billion. Operating profit rose 36 percent to $552 million.

– Personal computers (Personal Systems Group): Revenue increased 20 percent to $10.6 billion. Operating profit jumped 22 percent to $530 million.

– Software: Revenue was flat at $878 million. Operating profit rose 19 percent to $167 million

– Financial services: Revenue increased 13 percent to $719 million.

Printers and Ink ( Imaging and Printing Group) are the wrong buckets. I don't know much about the ink business, but my bet is that margins are only going lower. On a global scale it might turn out to continue to be the great cash generator as before. If I had to bet on it, I wouldn't.

But the presence of the Indigo and now the digital web presses say to me that HP may have a very defensible position in the under appreciated Print industry. Suffice it to say that my Print-centric IRA is well over 100% up since I started managing it about a year ago.

If HP gave me a way to invest in the Print piece instead of all the other complicated opaque (2me) businesses, it would be grand.

Another step towards a Robust Printernet. Press Sense gets new CEO.

The quote from the Press Release:

“With growing demand for Business Flow Automation throughout the marketplace, our intensified focus upon this critical region is paramount to our worldwide success,” notes Press-sense CEO Shlomo Ben David. “Amir’s extensive sales and executive management experience compliments our growth strategy and is a valuable addition to our management team. We anticipate his impact will accentuate our results in these regions. ”

Amir's dna is from IT not Print.

Amir Rosentuler’s experience is evidence of a results-driven management executive with more than 20 years experience in sales management and business development. With more than 10 years with NASDAQ software companies, he has exhibited strong P&L management, and cross-company strategic project management skills. Prior to Press-sense, Amir was the General Manager and Vice President of International Sales for Magic Software (a leader in enterprise application development and integration software) where he constructed and implemented their new turnaround strategy.

Amir also held several senior positions in IBM, and several senior management positions in Novell, as well as senior sales management and channel distribution management positions at Computer Associates.

IT dna is precisely what's needed to pull together a stable, resilient Printernet.

“Massive parallel manufacturing with standards-based interfaces, real time production information and easy access for everyone. Each printer — the combination of the machinery and the intelligence that manages the machinery — is a print output node. Each node is both part of the network and self-sufficient. When the nodes are working together mass customization of print product becomes commonplace at previously impossible speeds and quantities.”

Com Color v Color Qube. I'm thinking Com Color for Education

No real information about the Color Cube has gotten on my radar. Not sure what that means, but ComColor does keep popping up.

I pay attention when I see a tweet from @artpost

Riso ComColor Review http://bit.ly/1bfBlB

Which got me to Art's print4pay Hotel's "MFP Solutions Blog." I decided not to put in any snippets, as it's a short post and a very good read.

Instead I would like to share my tweets, which I hope will allow you to see what I'm seeing.

"To me the ComColor's mantra should be "Print Shop in Box", ( http://ilnk.me/1ab2 @Artpost ) Congrats to @RisoPrinter

"a 32 page booklet (saddle stitched) in about 30 seconds" ( http://ilnk.me/1ab2 @Artpost ) 30 kids x 30 secs = 15 minutes for textbooklets.

32 full color booklets x $.035 per page = $ 1.12 for a 1 to 1 textbooklet for at risk middle schoolers from @RisoPrinter http://ilnk.me/1ab2

Gosh I wish HP were a pure play on Print

The thing is it's too complicated for my IRA. Print centric has been doing just fine and as they say "focus, focus, focus."

Anyway, just one more datapoint on how HP could be a Printernet all by itself. The money phrase

industry’s largest personal publishing ecosystem

HP Press Kit: HP at PMA 2010
"At the 2010 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) tradeshow, HP is showcasing new digital photography and personal publishing solutions designed to accelerate the analog to digital transformation of the photo industry.

With the industry’s largest personal publishing ecosystem, HP and its solutions help retailers and print service providers to profitably grow their photo offerings and enable consumers to capture and access dynamic content where they want, when they want, how they want – and bring it to life through the power of print."

I bet IPEX is when Print tips. Have you read today's post at OutputLinks?

Frequent visitors to the blog know that I think the tipping point has already passed. But I'm just a blogger, so what do I really know. On the other hand, my print centric IRA has been doing just fine, so at the end of the day, what do I really care.

Anyway, this morning I got to see the Andy and Julie Plata talking about IPEX at OutputLinks.
Here's the link:

My personal fav snippet is:

a seminar area for 30 national and international not-for-profit organizations to exhibit at the event.

To me it says that there is a small, but gathering consensus that the growth path for the industry is not marketing to sell more widgets. Rather it is using the awesome power of Print to do well by doing good.

Just a few of the many other money snippets follow:

All the presenters seemed to be preparing their exhibits with the expected better economic conditions for 2010 in mind.

In fact Ipex 2010 will be the world’s largest English speaking print conference. It takes place every four years and will attract visitors from over 160 countries and exhibitors from almost 40 countries to Birmingham, UK.

A good “ignition indicator” was exhibitors like Océ, Pitney Bowes, Canon, HP, Fujifilm, Ricoh and Konica Minolta who had dramatically increased the size of their booths over the 2006 Conference.

Another “ignition indicator” is the fact that the show is almost 95% sold!

Program like the My Ipex, the Great Print Debates, the Printer’s Profit Zone, and the Knowledge Center are good examples of no-charge programs that will enhance the visitor experience.