This should cause all printers to sit up and take notice…NOW
If you haven’t seen this yet, check in out (HP-MySpace Press Release ). This is huge for several reasons. HP is going direct to provide their services to an organization by providing them with the technology and support to produce their photos with an web-to-print application. A very strong move into facilities management by HP. Certainly will cause stress for their customers by taking the type of business away from the same printers that purchased their equipment.
Additionally, this illustrates that HP “gets it” by recognizing the power of these type of social networking sites. In the press release they indicate that “over 5 million bands on MySpace” and they are trying to tap directly into their marketing engine. Another smart move by HP and, if they manage it right, this will provide for an extremely profitable revenue stream for them for many years to come. These social media sites (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.) are increasingly being used as marketing tools by small and large companies alike. The next most natural move is to allow them to upload their brochures to these web sites and if the client wants a printed version, they get it at the press of a button. Or, they can download the PDF to their local workstation. Interesting concept linking social media with web-to-print. Hmmmmmmmmmmm…the mind can wander all over the place with the possibilities.
How will the local printers play in this workflow evolution? Will they be able to? Only time will tell, but watch for further moves by the traditional print vendors establishing relationships with these type of web communities. Mark my words, there are more to come and it will happen faster then you think.
“See” Ya Later,
Rick Littrell
Magicomm, LLC
