Yesterday’s announcement that Canon is to acquire all the shares of Océ is obviously of great interest. Canon and Océ aim to create the overall number one presence in the printing industry building on an enhanced scale and a combined history of innovation and excellent client servicing. The combination of the two companies is designed to capitalize on excellent complementary fit in the product range, channel mix, R&D and business lines.

I am not going to cover the terms of the offer as that can be seen elsewhere, but instead I want to look at what the potential of the two companies could bring and how likely the new operation to attain the No. 1 spot in the printing industry. First of all one has to ask what do they mean by the printing industry? The general assumption is the printing industry is what is referred to as the graphic arts industry, not the business of data printing such as the transactional printing market.

The strengths of the two companies are in fact at present not specifically within the printing industry. Canon is a major player in the office space market, specifically SOHO. It is the leading supplier of multi-function printers (MFPs) in the office. It also supplies laser printer engines to HP for incorporation into the Laserjet product line. It is also a major supplier of wide format color display printers competing predominantly with Epson and HP. In the enterprise space, it is a leading supplier of ‘light production’ monochrome sheet fed printers. It is also in the color production area with its ImagePress C6000 and 7000 presses and these are also sold through distribution agreements with Agfa and HP. In the light production color space, Canon has recently introduced its new ImageRUNNER Advance series that should impact on the market leaders Konica Minolta, Ricoh and Xerox.