Toshiba Puts Rumors to Rest

In a memo to “All Toshiba Copier Dealers,” Mark Mathews, TABS President and COO, put to rest the rumor that has been gaining momentum over the last three weeks: That Canon was buying TBS, TABS direct organization.

Quoting Mark’s memo, “As valued Toshiba dealer partners, I felt it was important to address any TABS-related rumors directly and immediately. Toshiba Corp. is not currently, nor has it previously been in discussions with any manufacturer regarding the potential purchase of its MFP business, TABS or Toshiba Business Solutions (TBS), nor does it have any future plans in this area. Please be assured, and feel confident in assuring your customers, prospects and employees, on these points. Any related rumors to the contrary are completely unfounded and without merit.”

Strategy Development did not participate in permeating this rumor. When first contacted by industry players asking us if there was any validity we did what research we could within our network and determined that the rumor probably did not have validity. That was our message to whoever asked over the last few weeks.

I provide that retrospect because of this next statement. We do believe that consolidation will occur in the hardware manufacturing space. Unit sales continue to decline and it appears as if that decline will continue; I will talk about this in my next post. So in a less public, because of foreign stock listings and manufacturing plants, and less dramatic fashion the copier industry seems to be mirroring the auto industry: Same level of manufacturing with lower unit sales.

We are not a research company so we offer no opinion on how quickly that consolidation will occur or who might merge with or buy whom. We simply use the information we get to help our clients prepare for a prosperous future in the space. It will be those that don’t plan that will be in trouble; those that do will still thrive.