A bit of searching after the previous post suggests that Xerox may have a priority for Services so no longer so interested in equipment sales. At a meeting to report on recent results Ursula M. Burns said

So let's review the strategy. The first plank is to shift our business more to services, while enhancing our services offerings and improving our profitability.

Services revenue now represents 56% of our total revenue, up from 51% in 2012, so we've passed the tipping point on revenue but still have work to do on margin.

It was also stated that income from Document Technology was 4-5% down at constant currency for the quarter. All the questions seem to have been about services with no mention of equipment sales.

So this could explain why they would not want to invest in a show such as IPEX.

Kodak did have a stand (booth) at Cross Media last week, maybe more to promote the features of the NexPress to designers than to sell more kit to print companies. There was no sign of Prosper but there are now hybrid machines for News International so that online digital content can be unlocked through a code printed in the Sun.

I would still like the Guardian Saturday Guide to be printed inkjet so there could be more regional variation without two sets of page numbers as at present, which I find quite confusing. But some of the vision shown at the 2010 IPEX may have been for far in the future.

So the companies based in the USA may not be as concerned with hard copy as they once were. The web trends suggest a financial pattern. There is still Japanese interest maybe because engineering projects are expected to continue towards a result and the finances to work out later. Not sure about this but one more thing to explore at ExCEL next year.

The explanation that trade shows no longer matter at all and only some companies have realised this is no longer making much sense. I think there is some energy around IPEX, just not clear where it comes from or why.