My name is Tim; I’m currently a junior at UC Davis studying economics and political science. During my time as a community management intern here at Keen, I realized just how far behind the printing industry is in terms of internet technology – specifically ecommerce. My generation grew up with internet as a given and it is remarkable how difficult it is to interact with the print industry in that context.

The printing industry is 8X the size of video games, yet only ~3% of all transactions are made over the internet today. It’s a baffling statistic. Especially when you consider that 37% of Americans are online daily and over 70% of the whole country have a Facebook account.  Why is this? How can the print industry, as a whole, have failed to exploit the untapped potential of the internet and, more importantly, today’s internet-savvy culture? How is it that millions of people can tell the world what they eat for breakfast on Twitter, but less than 100 (of ~34,000) print businesses nationwide are relying on ecommerce as an important part of their business?  I think it is because no one has been able to create the “Apple” effect.  An elegant rethink of a complex set of user behavior disconnects.

If it were not for Apple, my mother would not know how to text, e-mail, or upload pictures to her computer. Without Apple, my grandmother would not have a Facebook account or constantly be pestering me to get an iPhone. Apple is everywhere. We see children with iPhones, parents with iPads, and grandparents with MacBooks. The reason Apple products are so popular is because every product they make is so simple and natural to use. My grandmother who didn’t know how to use a cell phone two years ago can now easily FaceTime with my mother, while texting her, and looking up recipes on her iPad. This trademark ease and accessibility of Apple technology is what’s missing from the print industry.

The overwhelming majority of the industry does not have an available option for effective ecommerce or teams of programmers to create one. A solution would be an innovative web service, equally accessible and affordable to both large print manufacturers and corner shops. There is no “Apple” in the print industry today, no ecommerce solution that is attainable and practical for any sized businesses.

One thing is for certain; an easy-to-use service that brings the long tail of print service providers online is the future of the industry. In all likelihood it will not be a creation by Apple, but maybe the future of print is closer than we know.