As a production colour digital press manufacturer this was the first drupa for Canon and it was by all accounts a huge success. It came riding on the back of a year of strong sales in Europe of about 600 digital presses that were actually launched and first shown at Ipex in May 2006. In the US and India the real market launch began even later and in the Indian market one can really say it began with Ipex South Asia in October 2007. Nevertheless, by drupa time, Canon India had installed about seven or eight Canon 7000 digital presses and also established its first production demonstration centre in Gurgaon.

Thus drupa was extremely well timed for Canon and as far as we can say, especially for Canon Europe and Canon India. It is digital reported that Canon Europe sold more than 140 presses at the show. The best sales teams were competing for tickets to the Euro 2008 football tournament of which Canon is one of the sponsor.

As far as we know thus far, the Canon India team did not close any deals at the show but are well on course to sell perhaps as many 25 to 30 machines this year. As we have written elsewhere, the Indian market has been strengthened in the past year with the entry of Konica Minolta, Canon and hopefully Ricoh, which is still getting its act together. These players will provide competition at various levels to the three more entrenched players – Xerox, HP, and Kodak.

Canon also received good interest from Indian visitors for its 12-colour ink jet printers both the 6100 and 8100 from both the photographer and imaging segment and from some of the indoor signage providers. In the proofing segment it sells the 8-colour 8000 series. The Canon demo centre in Gurgaon contains the 12-colour 60-inch 9000 ink jet printer. For these products Canon India has appointed CAD Centre as the dealer for the government and jobber market, and Monotech for the graphic arts market.

India Day
Although there were many India days at drupa08 organised at company stands, the main India Day on June 2 supported by the Indian industry printers’ and equipment manufacturers’ associations was sponsored by Canon India. Amongst the many speakers at the evening event were the Chief Guest, the Indian Consul General in Frankfurt Ajit Kumar, and the Guest of Honour, Kensaku Konishi the President of and CEO of Canon India. Both acquitted themselves well and briefly. For the Indians this was a coming of age opportunity on the world stage, and although an excellent, useful, and generous gesture by Canon India, the issue is whether the Indian industry was really up to the mark in what it had to say about itself.