Although the official release is not yet out (6 PM Eastern on August 1), Michael Makin, CEO of PIA/GATF was kind enough to contact WhatTheyThink to let us know about the decision Adobe has made relative to the FedEx Kinko's brouhaha. (UPDATE: See Adobe's statement below.) Makin indicates that at the July 17th meeting, he had suggested that the best solution for everyone would be for Adobe to extricate itself from the FedEx Kinko's contract and issue a software update that removes the 'print to FedEx Kinko's' button that has created such a firestorm in the printing industry. "Lo and behold," said Makin, "that is exactly what they are going to do. Adobe will be issuing Version 8.1.1 of Acrobat and Reader that will not contain the FedEx Kinko's button, and Acrobat's auto update will remove the button from any Version 8.1 installations." (See PIA/GATF's official statement
According to Makin, FedEx Kinko's will be able to distribute Version 8.1 to its customers, and he believes there will be no objection to that approach. The button will not appear in future releases. Makin adds, "Apparently, FedEx has also been very cooperative and magnanimous in their handling of this situation with Adobe. It is a tremendous day for the printing industry, and for independent printers from coast to coast. It signals to PIA/GATF that Adobe is concerned about its relationship with indpenedent printers and does heed the advice of the industry. I give kudos to the CEO of Adobe, who right from the start was sincerely contrite, and to Robin Tobin and Johnny Loiacono for all of their hard work."
Makin believes that the solution is likely to cost Adobe financially, but the move indicates Adobe's belief that the continued support of the industry is worth it. He adds, "It was magnificent, and almost unheard of for a Fortune 500 company to take an action like this so rapidly."
It appears that it will be 8 to 10 weeks before the upgrade is available, which, considering the work that needs to go into preparing, packaging and distributing a new software release of the magnitude of Acrobat, is a very reasonable timeframe.
WhatTheyThink adds its congratulations to Adobe and is delighted the issue has been resolved in a manner that appears to be the best solution for everyone. It remains to be seen what moves Adobe might make in the future., if any, to make it easier for printers to customize Acrobat and Reader for their own customer base and/or to leverage even more strongly its ASN network.
As this story develops tonight and on Thursday, we will add more details including comments from Adobe and others.
Statement sent to WhatTheyThink from Adobe
Adobe will remove the "Send to FedEx Kinko's" service and functionality, currently available to US customers, in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. The versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat that are scheduled to be released in October will not contain the feature. We are implementing these changes as quickly as we can. However, we need time to write and test the software. Adobe Reader and Acrobat are critical pieces of software for tens of millions of customers and we have to be sure the software we deliver is up to its usual quality.
Adobe originally announced the FedEx Kinko's features on June 6, 2007 and decided to remove them from Adobe Reader and Acrobat following a meeting and getting feedback from print service providers. Moving forward Adobe is setting up a Print Advisory Council to investigate how best to integrate third party print services into Adobe products, as more partners invest in online print infrastructures.
FedEx Kinko's has been exemplary in this process. They understand the reasons behind the decision and the implications to the broader print service provider industry. They have worked diligently with Adobe to craft a resolution. When Adobe ships the new updates to Acrobat and Adobe Reader in October, FedEx Kinko's will begin distributing a version of Adobe Reader, with the "Send to FedEx Kinko's" functionality, directly to its customers. This version will be available only from the FedEx Kinko's website (fedexkinkos.com or fedex.com).
Adobe's revenue expectations from this functionality were not expected to be material and this change will have little to no impact on Adobe's financial results. Adobe will make no revenue from this new arrangement.
Discussion
By Dr Joe Webb on Aug 01, 2007
Congratulations to all in a successful industry effort. It was good to see the trade associations work this process diligently on the part of their members, and also their non-members. This still leaves the industry asking questions, such as 1) Will Adobe become more proactive with the ownership side of the business, not just the production side? Greater trade activities with owners may have created a sensitivity and awareness to this issue so that it might never have happened in the first place. 2) Are the calls for "workflow diversity" in the industy something serious or just a lament? Many in the industry said that Adobe's initial decision was something that we deserved because we put all of our eggs in one basket. Not really. For many customers, Adobe was the best solution available, and was purchased for that reason. For others, Adobe was purchased because their customers used it. Adobe has the share that it has for a reason, none of them nefarious. The fact that their software works well, in the opinion of its customers, is the best reason. 3) Can this happen again? New technologies are always disruptive to some degree, and challenge industry structure. "Creative destruction" is essential to a healthy economy and a healthy industry, and always changes the relationships with vendoes, customers, and their customers. And congratulations, also, to Adobe, for not digging in their heels, when they clearly could have. Too often, companies stand by decisions when the mounting penalties of unintended consequences suggest they should do the opposite. If Kinko's was cooperative, and they must have been, kudos to them as well. If they recognized that they have a larger role in the success of the print medium, and not just their own organization, that was good to see.
By Brian Regan on Aug 01, 2007
Indeed, it is quite an uplifting thing to witness, from the actions and solidarity of the print industry to Micheal Makin and PIA/GATF, Adobe and Kinko's and the other champions of this cause. Grace under pressure. Well done to all.
By Peter Leyland on Aug 02, 2007
A good result all round. What would have been even better (IMHO) would have been a simple way for any printer to be able to add their own button/link to facilitate customers. I suspect that this would have resulted in increased sales for Adobe as many printers would be prepared to supply such bespoke software to their own customers.
By Todd Ware on Aug 02, 2007
Cheers to Adobe for retracting the contract, and also to Kinkos/Adobe for coming up with the idea in the first place. We wish we were all getting the publicity that they both are.....
This is not my idea but I think it would be well worth it for Adobe to think about it. Why doesn't Adobe offer the same capability to all printers, including Kinkos to put an auto send button in Acrobat to your favorite printer. Adobe could even charge for the capability and offer it as a service to printers. That way if I have three printers I use on a regular basis available in Acrobat.
By Lance Burns on Aug 02, 2007
If adobe adds a "Kinko's Print Button" so Kinko's can distribute a personalized version of Acrobat, Does adobe plan on offering printers the same function. I would like to be able to distribute my own copy of acrobat with a built in print function.
By Chris on Aug 02, 2007
I am very glad to finally see a corporate giant pay attention to other industries that have supported them and help them grow. Now I'd like to see some discussion about the alliance of VistaPrint and OfficeMax. And at the same time I'd like to see us printers get more on track with customer based web to print solutions that make sense.
By Mike on Aug 02, 2007
Lance - You can create your own pluggin for Acrobat. Distributing a pluggin would probably be a bit easier then distributing the whole Acrobat application. Acrobat’s developer resources are http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/" rel="nofollow">right here.
By Cary Sherburne on Aug 02, 2007
Carl Gerhardt, President & CEO of Allegra Network LLC, sent this note yesterday to the Allegra franchise system (Allegra Print & Imaging, American Speedy Printing, Insty-Prints and Signs Now) and has given PrintCEO Blog permission to reprint it. This statement is representative of the very positive reaction the industry has had to Adobe's proactive and professional decision, and we are pleased that he and others are following up in this manner. All too often, we get into a flurry over issues like this but fail to give credit where credit is due when issues are resolved. As other organizations send us their comments, we will post them here. Stay tuned. DO THE RIGHT THING - ADOBE Lemonade By now, unless you have been hiding under a rock you know about the industry flack over the Adobe release of Acrobat and Reader version 8.1 with a link to Kinkos. Most likely you also know by now that bowing to industry pressure Adobe has now committed to release version 8.1.1 by October eliminating this link to Kinkos. A large part of bringing this to pass was The Graphic Communications Coalition for Open Competition. This group was formed quickly through the leadership of NAPL/NAQP and CEOs of the major print franchises. Several of us traveled to Adobe headquarters and were joined by other groups including; Inplant Printers Association, Association of Colleges and Universities. Adobe responded quickly and positively to this unified group and made the tough decision to not only apologize but did a quick 180 to reverse a major contract with Kinkos. We now owe it to them to accept their apology and move to help them rebuild their credibility with our franchise network. Please join us in this effort. If you wrote to Adobe to complain I suggest you write again to express your appreciation for this decision.....even if you did not write before you may want to do so now.
By Cary Sherburne on Aug 02, 2007
Kevin Cushing, CEO of AlphaGraphics, adds his comments relative to the Adobe resolution: It was a great gesture by Adobe to show the courage to "undo" something that never should have been done in the first place. Kudos to FedEx Kinko's for their constructive approach to something that impacted tens of thousands of business owners worldwide. The strength of our position derived from the unity that we showed as an industry, from the associations to the independents to the franchised concepts standing together as one, and Adobe listening to us. Great companies show their character in many ways and one way is when there is a difficult problem at hand. Adobe showed great character and class in "fixing" something that never should have happened in the first place. I think the leadership in the industry showed great resolve and overlooked our individual positions as competitors, independents or franchises. I do believe that the franchise concepts leading the membership of the coalition helped add critical mass to the efforts in a very short time period which helped the schedule of the initial meting so quickly. My two cents..
By Kevin on Aug 02, 2007
Mike - thanks for the inforamtion yesterday on the developers information (regarding the plug-in link).
After looking it over it does seem pretty silly that Adobe charges a fee for this - you would think it would be in their interest to allow printers to distribute this to their customers for free. It would further cement the customer's & printer's use of Adobe products while doing the same to the customer/printer relationship - a true win-win situation or am I missing something more obvious here?
By Mike on Aug 02, 2007
Kevin - It seems like the restrictions are there to make sure your plugin doesn't compete with Acrobat. They do not want you creating a plugin that competes with the features they charge for. Is $1,000 to much to spend for creating a plugin that could bring you increased revenue? Sure there are other costs involved with this, but the IKLA fee will likely be the smallest of them.
By Bob A. on Aug 02, 2007
You know.....what bothers me...and I know this is all AFTER the fact, but exactly who made this obviously poor decision to include a Kinko's button?? And, they just HAD to know they would cause dissent. How many of you read the initial story and did not realize right away that Adobe was offending every single independent printer on earth?! This was the proverbial "slam-dunk". If this person who ultimately said YES to this decision is still with Adobe, something like this will happen again. I think a bone-headed decision like this will repeat itself unless Adobe is very pro-active in re-establishing good relations with all us independent printers. They're probably hoping this will just go away. So many times things like this DO go away...people just don't follow through with their indignation. It's too time and energy consuming....and Adobe and Fedex and Kinko's know this. Let the good times roll.......
By Charlie Corr on Aug 02, 2007
I commend Adobe for listening to its customers and reacting quickly. I think the approach that would benefit the entire printing eco-system (from buyer to supplier) is for Adobe to offer a for pay service that includes participation from multiple print providers to enable integration with its products. This will encourage innovation while acknowledging that making print procurement easier and more reliable can’t be done without effort and related cost.
By Ron L. on Aug 02, 2007
I applaud the quick response of Adobe in correcting this matter and the industry associations for their involvement in representing us. From all I'm reading, it seems that one industry association president is taking all of the credit -- doesn't the credit go all around to those who lobbied to make this happen?
By Brian Regan on Aug 02, 2007
Fairly put Ron, is there a list somewhere of all the people that were involved, I personally want to thank each.
By Noel Ward on Aug 03, 2007
Way to go, Adobe! It a time when so many corporations treat their customers, as Tom Peters once noted, "with thinly veiled contempt," it is great to see Adobe do the right thing. And it was even better to see so many in this industry all pull together to make our various points of view public. We do indeed have a voice and can make it heard. I think now of so many other issues we face as an industry and wonder about how the power of our collective will can foment other positive changes.
By Dan Winter on Aug 06, 2007
my feeling is that it most likely was in Fedex's interest to make this controversy go away too. How many printers, and designers use Fedex shipping services? How easy would it be for us to decide to use a different carrier for our small shipments and overnight letters. Fedex does not make much money on Kinkos, 2 percent margin compared to 9.5 percent margin on shipping. If a whole industry decided to take its business to other shipping vendors, then not only Adobe would suffer from this bad agreement, and Fedex is very easy to replace.