Industry notes for the week of May 2

GaryPageau

Industry Notes for the week of May 2

Adorama Wins Best Instagram Live” in the 12th Annual Shorty Awards

Lifetouch lays off 400+ workers in Maryland

Lifetouch reported laying off 413 workers effective March 12, according to a notice filed on the Maryland Department of Labor and Licensing’s Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) log on Tuesday, according to the Baltimore Business Journal. The layoffs took place just as the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping the country but before Gov. Larry Hogan closed Maryland schools on March 16. Prestige Photography, a Lifetouch subsidiary, has three studios in Maryland, with locations in Baltimore, Salisbury, and Rockville.

Professional photographers are making Instagram accounts private

Buzzfeed News reports a growing number of professional photographers are making their Instagram accounts private to prevent embedding. The move is in the wake of a District Court ruling allowing media and entertainment companies to continue to embed Instagram photos without paying a license feel. Photographers respond about the lack of an opt-out feature for embedding prevents them from using Instagram as a marketing tool and as an interaction platform.

App News

Perfectly Clear for Business improvements

EyeQ announced several updates to Perfectly Clear for Business, including more language options (QuickDesk and QuickServer are now localized in French, German, Spanish, Chinese, and Russia); improved quality, JPEG handling and default red-eye reduction.

Facebook makes photo transfer tool to Google Photo more widely available

A tool from Facebook to make it easier to transfer photos from Facebook to Google Photos is now available in the United States and Canada. In March, Facebook expanded the availability of the photo transfer tool to more countries in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Latin America, South East Asia and Africa

ON1 launches ON1 Photo RAW photography workflow solution

ON1 announces ON1 360°, a new end-to-end photography workflow solution for capturing, for editing, and for accessing photos seamlessly between multiple computers and mobile devices, will be available in late June. ON1 360° connects ON1 Photo RAW 2020 on macOS and Windows computers with the new free ON1 Photo Mobile on iOS and on Android.

Canon software adds webcam function to select EOS cameras

Canon USA unveiled the  EOS Webcam Utility Beta software for select EOS cameras and PowerShot cameras. This beta version solution converts the compatible EOS ILC and PowerShot camera into a webcam through a USB connection.

Sony upgrades VENICE and FX9 motion-picture cameras

Sony Electronics Inc. will upgrade the firmware of its VENICE digital motion picture camera and FX9 full-frame camera in 2020.

Printing Notes

Customer experience for photo products businesses

Customer experience is the sum of all the customer’s perceptions of the brand developed through interactions at every touchpoint. Printbox posted an article about how the customer experience is evolving photo products merchandising.

Printful launches marketplace keyword research tool

Printful launched a free SEO software, Keyword Scout, in a public beta. Keyword Scout’s main functionality is to help Printful customers optimize their Etsy listings and increase their search visibility and sales on the Etsy marketplace.

4 ways to modernize your photobook printing business, via Mediaclip

as the photo album market is reaching maturity, vendors need to keep their business up to date in order to retain their share of the pie. As this day and age is encouraging digitization of the photo album industry, let’s look at 4 ways to modernize your photobook printing business. Click here for more.

Financial news

Samsung reports quarterly operating profit of KRW 6.45 trillion on sales of KRW 55.33 trillion

Samsung Electronics reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Total revenue was KRW 55.33 trillion, a decrease of 7.6% from the previous quarter mainly due to weak seasonality for the Company’s display business and Consumer Electronics Division and partially due to the effects of COVID-19, via press release.

Xerox reports lower first-quarter sales

Xerox Holdings Corp. reported first-quarter revenue dropped 14.7 percent to $1.86 billion, with cash flow dropping to $173 million of operating cash flow from continuing operations, down $49 million year-over-year, and $150 million of free cash flow, down $57 million year-over-year.

Service revenues boosts Apple’s second-quarter results

Apple posted quarterly revenue of $58.3 billion, an increase of 1 percent from the year-ago quarter, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $2.55, up 4 percent. International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue. The company had net sales of $58.3 billion in the quarter, compared to $58.015 billion last year.

People on the Move

Canon Inc. president steps down, duties assumed by chairman Mitarai

Canon Inc. reported, due to reasons of health, President and COO Masaya Maeda has retired from his current position and assumed the position of Chief Technology Advisor. Accordingly, Canon Inc. chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai has, in addition to his current position, assumed the position of President and COO.