This Week in Imaging: Toner Wars, Clover, Canon, More

The aftermarket printer-supplies wars continued this week, with the Daily Monitor reporting that Ughandan government authorities confiscated five tons of counterfeit toner and printer supplies – boxes and boxes of counterfeits – apparently counterfeits of HP Inc. products – as seen in the photo above.

Meanwhile, HP stepped-up its efforts to dissuade customers from using non-HP supplies, stating in general that third-party consumables result in sub-par performance and sometimes even damage to printers, as laid out in this article, “How Knock-Offs Cause Damage.” HP also points out that its cartridges are better for the environment, as it provides free cartridge recycling, while up to 97 percent of knock-offs wind up in landfills.

Meanwhile, speculation continues about the fate of Clover Imaging Technologies.  The problem involves a $693 million loan the private-equity firm (Golden Gate) that purchased Clover has piled on  Clover. Clover then recently reported it was losing two key customers – primarily the loss of AT&T as a customer, and losses expected as a result of  recent HP-Xerox agreements, under which HP might supplant Clover as Xerox’s supplier for HP printers under Xerox managed print services.

Meanwhile, Canon’s recent financial results  reported this week, which included sharp declines in sales and profits for office-imaging equipment, should perhaps give us more pause than Clover’s troubles.  Next week, on July 30th, Xerox will also report its second-quarter results, so stay tuned.

This Week in Imaging

Canon Reports Results for Second Quarter

A Look at Sharp’s Earnings’ Recovery Since Foxconn Acquisition

New Budget-Friendly A4 Models from Xerox with WiFi, Mobile Printing

Clover Seeks to Reassure Customers

Toshiba Adds Copier/MFPs to AEG Contract

Canon Obtains Two New Amazon Toner-Cartridge Take-Downs

It’s Official: EFI Acquired by Siris Capital