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| This is what is known as an "Adobe Upgrade" |
Do I make fun of the tablet 'duct taped' to the side of a copier? Yes.
Do I think end users will do whatever they can to avoid standing in front of a copier? Yes. Even if we attache Netflix or Clash of Clans? Yes.
Did Tod Pike sell AGAINST A4 devices just four, short years ago? Well, did Samsung profits just drop like a 1951 era MIG-15?(good lord, google it) Yes.
"Oh, Greg. Who are you pissing off now?"
Samsung -
Here's the challenges I see with the new user interface:
Reason One - Nobody wants to spend more time in front of a copier.
In all my years of working with clients helping them determine requirements for print and content management, I have never had a client say to me, "I wish I could find another reason to stand in front of the copier." Well, except for government and education, but let's not get political.
Reason Two - 'Droid isn't a great platform
But what else is Samsung going to use, Yosemite?
Reason Three - The visual stinks.
Honestly, the unit looks like an engineer velcro'd the tablet to the side of a copier. IKON'a DocSend - now that looked cool.
Hold Your Venom!
I know there are folks ready to fire off a terse comment or email my way, please don't hit 'submit' just yet. Here are my reasons we should recognize this move as powerful genius.
Tod Pike has been able to get two divisions within one of the largest technology manufacturer's in the world, to come together and bring a combined package to market - in what? Two years?
I see the future of our business with fewer silo's and faster innovation to market - SPEED.
Think about your world: How easy is it for you to get Sales and Service talking? Right.
In some organizations, speed to market is measured in 20 quarter cycles. Our traditional OEMs have one gear to innovation. S L O W. In this case, it looks like Pike was able to jump the curve.
Maybe there is a back-story and I am giving too much credit, it doesn't matter because Tod isn't stopping here. He's working with Technology United, integrating Forza AT THE MACHINE LEVEL which would be a gargantuan undertaking for many, but apparently not Tod.
From the outside, it looks logical for a manufacturer of copiers, tablets and phones, to integrate products into a single package. An example would be Toshiba integrating nuclear reactors inside their erasable copier. But that's not going to happen.
Remember when HP printers and computers went together like,"...rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong..." (props to Olivia Nutron Bomb).
In a time when MPS messaging gets garbled from the board room to the trenches, seeing a company slap one department on the side of another and bring a product to market, is both refreshing and significant.
Cheers to the process.
#### UPDATE 12/23/2014 ####
Tod Pike as decided to move on, leaving Samsung in early 2015. What can be gleaned by this turn?
I am not sure.
I can tell you this, the 'droid-tablet-copier will not land more units and if the consolidation of divisions says anything, its that they're shrinking and focusing on equipment based, transactional selling. Box moving.
Now...let me tell you about a Intellinetics and their 'little box of wonders..."
Click to email me.
