Printing Industry News Digest June 18, 2010

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 10, the weekly summary of major news stories from the printing, packaging and communication sectors. Published every Friday (except for last week!), PIND incorporates links to the week’s key news stories: every piece of bold, maroon text below can be clicked on to take you to more detail on that particular topic, which will open in a new window.

First things first: the World Cup! A summary of the links you might need to watch the games while you work, or while others rest (depending on your time zone!). For me, the BBC coverage has been excellent, along with its web pages on the scores and stats. I have been (as of today) trying out the BBC site with the latest release (10.6) of the Opera browser, which seems to be able to handle the live feed just that bit better than some browsers. Take a look, but I think Opera is now shaping up as pretty stern competition to Firefox.

Back in the world of print it is time to just finish off those IPEX sales success stories. Leicester-based Flexpress were in the news with their new Ryobi purchase. The small footprint, B2 format Ryobi 785E is the company’s first venture into the world of B2 printing, and the press will be installed at new industrial estate premises as the company continues to expand.

Cardboard packaging experts Benson Group also confirmed that it had spent some money at IPEX with the purchase of two Bobst Masterfold carton makers for the company’s Gateshead facility. The two new highly efficient machines will effectively replace four older Bobst products at the plant.
The Daily Express has been holding court in recent weeks in the UK newspaper market, with news of its KBA press purchase, and more recently with the announcement regarding its location. PrintWeek’s Jo Francis added her thoughts to this situation.

Also in the UK newspaper world, we learned that The Sun has somehow managed to skirt around Apple’s no nudity rule for the iPad. Yes, the newspaper’s much celebrated page three pin-up seemed to slip through the censors hands (sorry, was that the wrong choice of words?). Anyway, in our clipping from TechCrunch Chloe from Leeds has been suitably covered up by our learned technical friends, and not by either Apple or News International!

Fans and non-fans alike might well enjoy this little sketch on the iPad. Believe me it’s a lot easier for you to look than for me to describe it! That’s assuming, of course, that you are not reading this on an iPad . . .

iPhone 4 update: Reports are already suggested a huge demand for Apple’s new iPhone 4 product, with pre-order systems being overwhelmed with the demand. The FT details the initial availability of 600,000 products has already been taken up, and there are further suggestions that launch dates may be revised in light of the huge interest.

Those that have been successful in placing their pre-orders are not sitting on their hands either, as e-Bay is now being used to sell on those early orders to eager buyers! WebUser tells us of one auction where the price has reached the dizzying heights of £1,100 already!

WebUser also reveals details of Orange pricing in the UK, and includes in the same posting some further O2 information.

Late Breaking: First iPhone camper spotted one week out in the US.

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Printing Industry News Digest June 11, 2010

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 9, the weekly summary of major news stories from the printing, packaging and communication sectors. Published every Friday (except for last week!), PIND incorporates links to the week’s key news stories: every piece of bold, maroon text below can be clicked on to take you to more detail on that particular topic, which will open in a new window.


Following the heady excitement of IPEX, the world of print appears to have come back down to earth this last week, with back news back on the agenda, especially in Scotland.

Woods of Perth, which has been the subject of bad news reports for the last couple of weeks, has finally had to close its doors for the last time. The £6.5 million turnover business had been part of the Perth picture for some 180 years, and the final 14 members of staff were made redundant.

In Dundee we also had the news that D. C. Thomson was looking to axe 350 jobs with the planned closure of its gravure, sheetfed and bookbinding operation in Guthrie Street. The company stressed that no impact would be felt on its newspaper business at this time.

Big losses were the headline when trading figures revealed for Goodhead Group. A hefty £18.7m loss must have made the eye’s water a little! Management expectations are high, and anticipate a return to profit by the turn of the year.

Certainly a more profitable organisation, Centurfax revealed sales of 100 units of its new microDot product at the recent IPEX. The company is working hard to keep up with orders: what an altogether nicer state of affairs!

Marlowe Graphic Services were also still making headlines with its FFEI CtP sale to Clarendon Press, Gloucestershire. Owners of the company say they were forced into the investment due to an end of line decision by Agfa on a plate product.

Outside of the print industry, the communications sector was very much a phone driven thing this last week, with Apple once again stealing the headlines with more detail on its introduction of iPhone 4 and the new operating system iOS4, which will run the new phone and the previous two versions. Further thoughts on the introduction come from The Telegraph as it focuses on the potential for video calls.
Details included the date for the iOS4 download date: June 21, but don’t all rush at once please. I want to download it too!

The new release details also prompted Lifehacker to produce an iPhone v. Android feature. Some of the arguments and therefore the scoring adopted are a little odd and curious to my mind, but your thoughts are certainly appreciated. What’s taking your calls: Apple or Google? Mail us with the detail at PIND.editor@gmail.com

Apple has also been busy on the browser front. Safari 5 was swept into the world, though I am not sure if so much as an eyebrow was raised by its appearance. It was nice to see that Apple is showing some understanding of the world at large by adopting extensions, and creating an extension library. Only minor flaw is that as yet there’s nothing in it! Other enhancements are neat, however, so why not download it and give it a try. In my humble opinion it has still got a way to go catch up both Firefox and Chrome, but as always let us know what sits on your desktop; mail us at PIND.editor@gmail.com

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Printing Industry News Digest June 4, 2010

Welcome to Printing Industry News Digest (PIND) issue 8, the weekly summary of major news stories from the printing, packaging and communication sectors. Published every Friday (except for last week!), PIND incorporates links to the week’s key news stories: every piece of bold, maroon text below can be clicked on to take you to more detail on that particular topic, which will open in a new window.

We went “major league” on print and IPEX last week, so let’s have a change of focus for issue 8, and with Apple’s much fabled iPad now alive and kicking in the UK market, and Taipei’s Computex very much the talk of the week with the computer fraternity, let us talk tablet.

Firstly, unless you have been on a fact-finding mission to Mars, you will have noticed much hype and excitement about the development and subsequent marketing of the iPad. Well, it is now here in the UK and has been on sale for a week. I was able to get my sticky fingers on one this last weekend at my local, friendly, neighbourhood Apple store; a very busy store I should add: the iPad has certainly created interest. It really is everything that I had imagined and hoped for; it is a superb piece of technology.

However, as many commentators have already mentioned, it really is also a big iPhone. Nothing wrong with that at all, but do you want to shell out some considerable cash on a big iPhone? I’m really not sure that I do. I am quite happy with my iPhone, but I don’t think I really want a big one in exchange for £500 or £600. I want to know what you would do with a iPad; what groundbreaking application or task are you going to give to this great piece of technology to justify that spend. This really is the one flaw that I can see in this glorious product: why do I need it? I am easy to convince, so do send in your suggestions on an e-mail to PIND.editor@gmail.com

According to Steve Jobs, however, I might be thinking in too narrow a plane. He suggests that we need to view this introduction in a broader sense. He believes that the tablet will replace the desk-bound PC in the long-term. That's a big call! Do you agree?

The competition from the “non Apple” sector is hotting up, but to be honest Apple has the market to itself for some months yet. The developments on show at Computex were exciting according to the techies that were present, but most are still products in development, and many will not actually hit the streets for at least six months.

The best of the products on show have been covered by our friends at Engadget during this last week or so. Windows 7 devices such as the Asus Eee Pad probably made as bigger mark as any. A 12-inch screen, Intel's Core 2 Duo processor, a keyboard docking station for real typing, and 10-hours of battery life have to make this a serious competitor in the market. In dollar terms we are talking $399 to $499, but we are still talking first quarter 2011 before you can get one. A smaller Asus Eee Tablet could complete the line-up priced between $199 and $299.

MSI appears to be hedging its bets with both an Android and Windows 7 based offering. Both look inferior to the above in my opinion. LG looks more serious with a 10-inch Windows 7 based product, including (take note Mr Jobs) a 1.3 megapixel front-facing webcam and an SD card slot.

Intel’s Moorestown seems to be getting more than its fair share of mentions this week. Suggestions from Intel, however, that you won’t see a real life product much before the end of 2010.

One tablet that is most definitely eye catching is the dual 14-inch screen Kno. That’s quite a bit of screen real estate, and still they claim a battery life of 8 to 10-hours.

Finally, back at the Apple iPad camp, it was noted that the iPad Camera Connection Kit is now in such short supply in the US that the $30 option is now trading on e-Bay for upwards of $180. This handy kit does certainly help to overcome some of the shortcomings of the product, with a plug in SD card reader and a plug in USB port, but even then the USB port does have its limitations! A keyboard, yes, an external drive, no!

If you are a new reader of PIND you might be asking why all the tablet talk? It might not appear to closely linked to the printing industry, but we are looking at it from the publishers perspective. It could be the start of a major revolution for publishers, and that certainly would have an impact for printers, so it needs watching from both sectors!

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