Firstly, blowing our own trumpet briefly, we are now one year old! A rousing chorus of Happy Birthday will do nicely, thank you. It would seem a reasonable time to ask what has happened during the last 12 months within the various sectors that we regularly examine, and where are we right now, so that is what we intend to do:Print: We read with great interest earlier this week that the US print industry is beginning something of a fight back. OK, it’s starting from a pretty low point, according to the information provided by What They Think?, but the sequence of positively profitable quarters has to be seen as a step in the right direction. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a continuing upward slant?! In the UK business is improving; finance is still something of a stumbling block, unless you are presenting a good business plan – actually that’s what most businesses have to do! The Ryobi SRA1 format 920 Series presses are tipped for great things – 8pp to view with a B2 press footprint.
Packaging: Where print meets packaging in carton production, the leaders of the pack, such as Benson Group, appear to be going from strength to strength. For others who have been focused on sweating existing assets rather than investing in the latest and greatest kit, times have proven just as tough as the regular commercial print sector, with businesses falling by the wayside on a regular basis. May’s interpack show in Dusseldorf will be a highlight for this year.Publishing: How many people have actually subscribed to The Daily: they are not saying apparently. I was very enthused by the whole marketing activity for this publication initially, and half of me thought that this might actually work. The other half of me thought “hold on – this can’t be right”. How can you charge for something that is generally available for free! The Times is still trying, the FT is refusing to pass subscriber detail to Apple, and the New York Times is trying – they can’t all make money from something that this easily available for nothing . . . can they?
Tablets: some interesting recent comments on the tablet market have suggested that Microsoft is trying to suggest that the iPad represents a passing fad. We do not believe that for one minute. More akin to our way of thinking is a summary of a recent talk from Steve Wozniak, who is saying that tablets are the ultimate computing machine that was just waiting to be developed. This market is going to go from strength to strength in our opinion. It is convenience computing: easy to move around with, easy to use. The Telegraph also offers us five alternative tablets to the iPad. Mind you, Apple is buying up all the remaining touch screen stock by the look of it!Tablet/smartphone: OK, this is both bits together! The question is, which has impacted your life more: iPad or smartphone? Overall, I would have to go with the smartphone. It has moved an existing product into a whole new market, and is accessible by many millions of people. The tablet is still that bit more of a luxury item that doesn’t really do anything significantly different from a computer – it just does it in a more portable and convenient way. You might also argue that the iPad does nothing more than a smartphone, it just does it with a larger screen, making regular use more comfortable on the eye. The combined use of iOS is still outpacing Android when it comes to overall web use.
Smartphones: It is no great surprise to us here at PIND, but several recent reviews of the smartphone market have indicated that Android has, or very soon will, overtake the iPhone in terms of numbers. It’s bound to happen. We still don’t believe that any Android phone provides a superior product experience, but it all comes down to price generally. More people can afford an Android solution. Apple meanwhile continues to develop and continue to file patents.The web: Speed, speed and more speed. Speed is still everything with the web. Mozilla this week published a list of the 50 slowest to load add-ons; Mashable offered us an infographic on why web sites are slow; and BT announced a 20mbps copper cable for the UK – well, for 80% of UK homes anyway. They are currently upgrading some 30,000 line per week (just not ours as yet!).
Social media: Google continues to refine its YouTube offering with Channels. Check out the new GenesisNews channel while you are at it! A report from this week also tells us that 90% of marketers believe that social media is important. What are the other 10% doing? We told you recently about the 100 millionth LinkedIn member; well this week there is a great infographic that tries very hard to put that into perspective.Finally, do keep checking back to see what will be featured in our next edition, PIND 48. Details of new stories will be added to this text page during the course of the week.
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