FedEx-Kinko’s button in Acrobat 8.1, Reader 8.1 triggers backlash

by Kurt Foss, Editor, AcrobatUsers.com

Around the time Adobe Systems published Tech Note 401725 titled "Understanding the Fedex-Kinko's Print Service (Acrobat 8.1, Acrobat 3D 8 and Adobe Reader 8.1)," it began hearing — directly and in various online discussions — from many of its long-time printing-oriented customers who understood the built-in option to send PDF files to FedEx Kinko's for printing, binding and shipping to be a betrayal.

A letter to Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen from several print industry groups spelled out the gist of the complaint:

"The advantage gained by FedEx Kinko's through this agreement with Adobe comes at the expense of the many other printers, including many of our members, who have played such a pivotal role in establishing Adobe as the defacto standard among many end users for reading documents and printing file submission. Many of our member companies have, with the encouragement of Adobe, actively promoted the use of Adobe Acrobat products and a PDF workflow with their clients."

In early July, Adobe’s Johnny Loiacono, Senior Vice-President in the Creative Solutions Business Unit, responded in an open letter [PDF: 75 KB]  

“It is clear that the recent announcement to connect Adobe Reader with FedEx Kinko's online printing capabilities has caused concern among some of our partners and key business allies in the print community. Our motivation for the deal was simple - offer customers, who are already printing and shipping through FedEx Kinko's, a more seamless way of getting their print jobs done. Clearly, the industry did not view our announcement in that way. It was not Adobe's intent to upset our loyal print partners or in-house print service providers. Adobe has a long history with the print community that we appreciate and value greatly.”

Loiacono said the company would be setting up an advisory council from the industry to “look for ways to accommodate your needs and those of the other members of the print community while respecting our contractual obligations with FedEx Kinko’s.”

On July 17, Adobe executives met with representatives of a Print Industry Advisory Forum in San Francisco to solicit face-to-face feedback from leading print-industry executives. The key recommendations were to:

1. Re-evaluate the implementation of the FedEx Kinko's service in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader.

2. Explore options of making print service providers more discoverable in Adobe's creative products.

3. Investigate the ability for printers to distribute a branded plug-in to their customers.

In a subsequent blog post titled “Lessons Learned,” Loiacono described the painful ordeal in which Adobe “met the objective of developing new business opportunities for our technology and addressing a customer's print workflow problem, but did not engage with print industry thought leaders and influencers early in the deal cycle to determine how to best implement the program.” He said Adobe will digest the solicited recommendations and pledged that the company is “going to do everything possible to find a way to deliver a win-win situation on all sides.”

Adobe executives have promised to respond to the group by August 1.

In the meantime, for those who want to take immediate action with their own copies of the affected Adobe products, Tech Note 401726 explains how to "Disable the Fedex-Kinko's Print Service in Acrobat, Acrobat 3D 8 and Adobe Reader." The feature currently only works in the United States.