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Heidelberg and Ricoh Announce Global Strategic Cooperation
Date : 2011-03-17Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Ricoh) and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) announced a global strategic cooperation. As a first step, both companies agreed to enter into a global distribution contract for Ricoh’s Production Printing Product portfolio. This agreement enables Heidelberg to sell Ricoh’s latest color digital press, the Ricoh ProTM C901 Graphic Arts Edition - Ricoh‘s high speed color digital press with Ricoh PxPTM Chemical toner, as well as appropriate future production printing offerings in Ricoh’s pipeline. The global strategic cooperation, which includes Ricoh services and support, will start in April 2011. The first markets will be UK and Germany with a phased rollout to follow in other geographies with completion targeted for drupa 2012.
As a world premiere Heidelberg will display the new strategic partnership with Ricoh at the digi:media tradeshow from the 7th to 9th of April 2011 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Murdoch launches iPad newspaper 'The Daily'
Date : 2011-02-07News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday launched "The Daily," a digital newspaper created for Apple's iPad, in the latest move in his drive to get consumers to pay for news online. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch sits on stage for the launch of his new online newspaper for the Apple iPad called The Daily at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. "New times demand new journalism," the 79-year-old News Corp. chairman and chief executive said as he took the wraps off the hotly awaited publication at a press event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Murdoch, an enthusiastic fan of the iPad, said there will be no print version of The Daily and it will only be available on Apple's touchscreen tablet computer for at least this year.The Daily will be sold through Apple's App Store and iTunes and cost 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year. News Corp. will get 70 cents from each weekly subscription with Apple pocketing the rest.
Kodak Hosts Discussion on the Future of Book Publishing
Date : 2011-01-28While the book market overall will remain relatively flat over the next three years, digital technologies will provide new opportunities and better processes for content creation, delivery and production. That perspective was one of many shared by participants during an expansive roundtable discussion about the future of book publishing. Held at the New York Public Library and hosted by Kodak, the roundtable brought together executives from book publishing, manufacturing, retailing and distribution companies, as well as an author.Topics, highlights and points-of-view shared by various participants included:- The fluctuating revenue model for e-books as publishers have assumed a number of new costs, such as licensing and privacy protection, associated with e-books.- High-speed inkjet printing will have a significant impact on book manufacturing the biggest development in publishing in the past 50 years, according to one panelist.- Inkjet printing will allow for more and shorter production runs, saving on inventory, waste and obsolescence costs, and providing a means for niche books to be printed that otherwise wouldn't get produced.- E-books make it possible to offer new promotions based on an individual's interests, such as bundling similar e-books into one download or including a sample of a different author's work with an e-book purchase.- Print-on-demand book production minimizes losses associated with returns, which can average 15% for many titles.- While children have access to computers and other electronic devices, they typically prefer the printed book.- All players in the publishing market need to remain agile and always ready to adapt their business models.- Publishers will continue to add value and play a critical role in bringing books to the marketplace.Participating in the roundtable were most of the biggest production, manufacturing, printing and publishing companies. For more info go to: www.kodak.com
Apple tightens App Store rules for publishers
Date : 2011-01-15Apple has changed its rules regarding how print publishers are allowed to let users access their content from within iOS applications. Apple has told publishers it will no longer allow periodicals to bundle free access to the iPad version of the publication with print or online subscriptions. The Apple company has given publishers until March 31 to comply with the new rules or risk having their apps removed from the App Store. This way Apple wants its 30 percent cut of the subscription price, which it does not receive when all payments are handled outside the App Store.
