Printing Industries CEO Philip Andersen said he welcomed confirmation that Adobe had no plans to roll out its controversial FedEx Kinkos agreement in Australia.
The confirmation was received from Adobes Pacific Marketing Manager, Mark Cokes.
Mr Andersen said Adobe had also confirmed that, although the website link behind the new button in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader 8.1 software listed Australian Kinkos outlets, it was only possible to take part in the program in the USA using USA credit cards.
Notwithstanding this, it is the philosophy behind the FedEx Kinkos agreement that has everyone concerned. The idea of a major supplier of any kind becoming a competitor by favouring one print group over its entire print customer base is a brain explosion hard to comprehend, he said.
It has prompted widespread anger in our industry prompting an unprecedented response via e-mail and phone calls to our offices from people very vocally expressing their dissatisfaction.
Mr Andersen said this included individuals, companies and major Australian print franchise operations.
I cannot recall any other single issue over several years that has so outraged so many people and prompted such a vocal response from our industry members.
Mr Andersen said he understood that Adobe USA was trying to negotiate its contractual obligations in a bid to find a solution and had also posted a button disable TechNote on its website.
But the fundamental issue still remains. We are in contact with our affiliates in the USA, UK and Asia who share our concerns and will continue to lobby Adobe until the matter is resolved to the satisfaction of our respective industries, he said.
Printing Industries Association of Australia
www.printnet.com.au/
