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Can Widecom re-invent itself?

Continued.... Widecom Wide Format Scanners - [Previous] [Next]

Claims on Widecom's Website

As a technical description of its wide format scanners, Widecom's website is much like any other large format scanner website, mixing fact with hyperbole. However, Widecom's website differs from others in that it perpetuates claims which are significantly out-of-date.

For example, the company profile on Widecom's website claims that it is listed on NASDAQ. In fact, Widecom's common stock was delisted from the NASDAQ Small Cap Market in 2001 for failure to meet certain minimum net tangible asset requirements. Its common stock continued to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board until March 2003 when its closing sale price was approximately $26,335.

CreditRiskMonitor states that "This company (Widecom) is no longer actively traded on any major stock exchange".

Widecom's website creates the impression that it is a multi-national company, claiming over "250 employees and representative offices in Toronto, Montreal, Pittsburgh, East Bay, Los Angeles, Houston, London, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney and New Delhi". We looked but could find no representative in London. Widecom UK Limited was liquidated in 2000. We had to phone Canada to talk to Widecom.

Further, NASDAQ's Form 10KSB/A for 03/31/03 has Widecom stating that their "North American operations had 8 full-time employees, including sales staff and administrative personnel. We (Widecom) also employ 89 people at a manufacturing facility in India.... Neither Widecom nor our subsidiary is a party to any labor agreements and none of our employees are represented by a labor union." This gives the lie to Widecom's claim to be "listed in the NASDAQ Stock Exchange with over 250 employees and representative offices".

On a lighter note, Widecom's website claims to have held the "Guinness Record" in wide format facsimile technology continuously since 1992, for six successive years. By our calculations, that brings Widecom's achievement up to 1998 ... or ten years ago! As Widecom admit, its website "is in need of some updating!" Further, WideFax technology has been made redundant by email and CAD software that saves PDF and by wide format scanners that scan-to-PDF. In this PDF age, it is obsolete.

Widecom's website is sadly out-of-date!

The copyright notice on Widecom's website is 2003, which appears to be the year when Widecom ran out of puff as an active wide format scanner supplier.

So, why would it benefit Widecom to have its website persist with making the same case for buying a Widecom scanner in 2008 as it did in 2003, indeed even in 1999?

The most obvious reason is that Widecom still sell a few scanners. As a technical description of its current products, Widecom's website provides accurate technical information on these increasingly old devices. Another reason is that at some future date Widecom may want to introduce new wide format products - as they may do by Christmas this year! At that time it will want to take advantage of the high position which www.widecom.com enjoys on Google's first page.

Also, by maintaining the perception that it remains an "industry leader" in large format scanning, Widecom can create a favourable impression among those it wishes to influence, like the press and potential investors. For example, Digital Output magazine believed Widecom to be active in wide format scanning in 2006. In its "Scanning Large - A Market Overview" (August 2006), Digital Output quoted a Widecom employee saying that while the company has an extraordimarily large 72" wide format scanner, their "most popular product is the 36" SLC series used for scanning technical documents".

Articles like this keep the Widecom brand alive for future buyers and or investors.

Most people will buy popular large format scanner models they have heard of or which colleagues and customers recommend - Contex, Colortrac, Graphtec, KIP and Océ etc. Unfortunately, awareness of Widecom as a brand is fading. When last did you hear of it? This gives Widecom another good, cost-effective reason to keep its website going! It is all that comes between Widecom and obscurity.

Okay, assuming you bought a "popular" Widecom 36" SLC wide format scanner today, what would you get and how would it compare to current market offerings?

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