Friday, March 24, 2006
Weekend Reading (or did I mean "Weakend Reading"? Hmmmmm...)
The British Printing Industries Federation and Pira have released a magazine and direct-mail report. Some who read this are going to deny it as too pessimistic or impossible. After all we've gone through, it's hard to imagine that people are denying that vast changes have occured to our industry. What's even funnier is when it's a supplier executive, whose on segment of the industry has consolidated so drastically. Prepress? Need I ask what happened to Scitex, Hell, Crosfield? These high flyers are now buried in organizations, barely the size that they were at their peak (even ignoring inflation!). Or presses... I have one word for you: Harris. But there's also Hantsco, Miller, Miehle, Multigraphics... others, too. Film? I remember when DuPont and 3M were part of the big three, and everyone else was almost meaningless and had to be in niches (Chemco, where I worked, was huge in the newspaper business, and miniscule everywhere else; Agfa's Copyproof was a great niche product). It's important to step back and see how much things have changed already before anyone poo-poos reports like this. (Note: BPIF has been having trouble with their website-- it's supposed to be up again on 3/27).
See the release: http://www.britishprint.com/news/article.asp?s=1&nid=1255
Download the report: http://www.britishprint.com/downloads/pira-report.pdf
Read an article about it: http://www.graphicrepro.co.za/asp/news_long.asp?nid=5793
Larry Elder has a good column about how good economic news is being reported negatively... and often inaccurately, I might add. When's the last time you heard about investment by non-US companies in the US? They can choose all kinds of places to invest in, yet they invest here. Or how about how often we set records for exports? Or that the number of employed persons is the highest in history? Nah!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49404
Another e-paper breakthrough announced
http://cellphones.engadget.com/2006/03/21/scientists-synthesize-plastic-suitable-for-printing-electronics/
Newspaper efforts to lure new readers highlighted in the WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114299723393804903.html?mod=djemMM
Popular entertainment is actually making us smart! This is an interesting perspective on the supposed decline in media. This is a countertrend to common wisdom, much like JK Rowling's Harry Potter series getting kids to read 700 page books in an era where reading is declining. We forget this important point. The US population is huge, diverse, and affluent compared to many regions of the world. You can have many countertrends existing at the same time and have both being very strong at the same time, and be of notable dollar volumes.
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48395
Pew Internet has a new report on use of broadband for news compared to other media
The report http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_News.and.Broadband.pdf
News story about it http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Online_News.html
See the release: http://www.britishprint.com/news/article.asp?s=1&nid=1255
Download the report: http://www.britishprint.com/downloads/pira-report.pdf
Read an article about it: http://www.graphicrepro.co.za/asp/news_long.asp?nid=5793
Larry Elder has a good column about how good economic news is being reported negatively... and often inaccurately, I might add. When's the last time you heard about investment by non-US companies in the US? They can choose all kinds of places to invest in, yet they invest here. Or how about how often we set records for exports? Or that the number of employed persons is the highest in history? Nah!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49404
Another e-paper breakthrough announced
http://cellphones.engadget.com/2006/03/21/scientists-synthesize-plastic-suitable-for-printing-electronics/
Newspaper efforts to lure new readers highlighted in the WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114299723393804903.html?mod=djemMM
Popular entertainment is actually making us smart! This is an interesting perspective on the supposed decline in media. This is a countertrend to common wisdom, much like JK Rowling's Harry Potter series getting kids to read 700 page books in an era where reading is declining. We forget this important point. The US population is huge, diverse, and affluent compared to many regions of the world. You can have many countertrends existing at the same time and have both being very strong at the same time, and be of notable dollar volumes.
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48395
Pew Internet has a new report on use of broadband for news compared to other media
The report http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_News.and.Broadband.pdf
News story about it http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Online_News.html
