As I mentioned in my last post, my primary reason for attending PMA was to conduct meetings with key ColorMetrix business partners. I did, however, have a few hours to roam the show floor yesterday afternoon and came away with a few observations.
While I am still impressed with the caliber of this show, it has made a shift to the consumer market. Most of the wide format ink jet vendors had a presence, but it was really just part of a booth dedicated to consumer photographic equipment. Some pro equipment could be found but the overall emphasis as I observed it was on point and shoot consumer cameras.
GE has entered the photographic market with both cameras and photo printers http://www.general-imaging.com/Â They even baked cookies in the booth in a GE oven.
In the desktop and wide format ink jet market, very few RIP vendors showed up. This leads me to believe that the vast majority of photo printing is happening through the print drivers provided by the print vendors. I still see the photographic market as a growth one for ink jet RIP manufactures. As more and more proofing moves from hard copy to virtual (monitor based) graphic arts RIP sales will continue to flatten and maybe even decrease.
I believe that photo printers (professionals and Labs) who are used to tight process controls for processors will look at ink jet proofing and ask how can we ensure that this device is stable and producing color the same as when we set it up months or years ago. (There’s a little clue as to why I was at the show).