14 December 2011
Facebook App for Photo Book Print Launched
That’s where consumers want it, says Ecce Terram
According to photo industry surveys, most of the more than 800 million Facebook members use the social network to store and share digital photos with family members, friends and co-workers, using the platform’s “Photo Album” feature. The custom brandable app developed by Ecce Terram now clears the way for large retailers and photo services to generate new photo book orders from a so far underdeveloped source.
“Facebook has become the premier destination for consumers to share and store their photo memories,” says Frank Simon, president and CEO of Ecce Terram USA. “For retail chains and photo processing services, the white-label version of our photo book app for Facebook could well be the key to unlock the huge potential of this market.”
The new app is backed by Ecce Terram’s long-standing experience with large-scale software deployments for the photo industry. Order processing is handled by Ecce Terram’s Photo2Lab CentralHub middleware. The software facilitates complete solutions from photo ordering to processing in commercial labs, and also supports standard software installations, as well as customized for large photo processing centers.
Ecce Terram positions its photo book app for Facebook as a logical addition to the company’s order channel solutions for desktop, online, mobile and kiosk platforms. For large retail chains with the Photo2Lab infrastructure already in place, configuration and deployment of the new app to work with their existing order processing system can be completed within a matter of days.
“Time-to-market for new photo products and services is a major reason why large retailers have come to rely on Photo2Lab solutions provided by Ecce Terram,” says Jay Hitchens, Project Manager at ECCE TERRAM.
The German version of the photo book app for Facebook has already been successfully stress-tested during the strong start phase of Germany’s holiday shopping season on https://app.share-your-photostory.de/en/, which is bustling this year.
“The Photo2Lab enables our customers to connect with consumers literally anywhere, anytime they are ready to order photo products and services. Starting immediately, through the photobook app, that includes connecting with them during their ‘quality time’ on Facebook. That's when they appreciate offers the most which help strengthen their bonds with family and friends,” says Ecce Terram's president/CEO.
Facebook members who install the white-label version can then simply select an album on their Facebook page, choose a background color and pick an image frame. Once they have chosen the pictures to include, added short text comments (optional), defined the sort order and determined the cover photo, they can order the photo book to be shipped - all from within Facebook.
“By offering the new Ecce Terram photo book app, a customer can now enable consumers to create thoughtful, elegant photo book gifts, when and where it’s most convenient for them - on Facebook,” says Frank Simon. “For consumers, it allows them to free their photos from the fleeting digital domain, and create lasting gifts. For Ecce Terram customers, we expect it to significantly increase order volumes.”
Company Contact
ECCE TERRAM will present its apps for Facebook, mobile apps for a variety of platforms, and Version 2 of its Photo2Lab Online Client in Las Vegas from January 8 - 12, 2012. To schedule an appointment, please contact us via email at pma2012@ecce-terram.com or via phone at +1 678 244 1521 (EST) within the United States/Canada, +64 9 304 0709 within New Zealand/Australia, and +49 441 500 120 within Europe.
Media Contact
Gerd Meissner, Start Nimble Communications,
email pr@ecce-terram.com, Phone #: +1 888-839-6665
The photo within this press release can be found on http://www.ecce-terram.com/ci/
About Photo2lab
The Photo2Lab Software Suite offers a complete solution from photo ordering to processing in commercial labs. It includes software applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux, web components, and modules for CD processing or mobile platforms, like iOS and Android devices. The modern connection protocol TRON is freely available and is supported by a variety of third parties. These provide solutions for, among other things, set-top boxes or kiosk terminals. Along with order processing, aspects such as payment, promotion, and adaptation options for affiliates and partners are taken into consideration as part of a white brand solution. The products can be used to handle anything from photo prints to hardcover photo books, thus offering unique flexibility and openness with the goal of enabling solution customers to reduce costs and reach new target audiences.
In 2010, Photo2Lab installations handled orders with over 220 million digital photos, 500,000 photo albums and photo calendars.
For more information, visit http://www.ecce-terram.com/
About ECCE TERRAM
ECCE TERRAM was founded by Frank Simon in 1996. It has specialized in solutions for e-commerce for the photo industry, lab control, e-payment, and content management. The company's Internet applications are used by well-known companies in the photo industry and beyond. Company headquarters are located in Germany, in the U.S. and New Zealand.
Agency contact:
IITM LLP
Catalina Martínez, Head of International Communication
Washington, USA
Email: pr (at) iitm.info
Tel.: +1 202-470-3242
http://IITM.info
Labels: Facebook App, online photo services, photo books, photobooks, photographic industry, print processing
28 November 2011
Dead-ended? New Software Shows a Way Out for Photo Industry
HTML5-based solutions promise: less risk, more profits for retail chains, photo services.
London; Atlanta, GA; Oldenburg, Germany - 29/11/2011. Ecce Terram, a global digital imaging solutions company with headquarters in Atlanta, GA and Oldenburg, Germany, has introduced version 2 of its Photo2lab Online Client. The new software for online photo processing and ordering provides seamless social media integration and fully supports open standards like HTML5 - unique in a market where most industry-strength solutions are still based on Adobe's Flash™ technology.
Ecce Terram launches its new software in the wake of Adobe's recent announcement to abandon its Flash™ player for mobile platforms. Version 2 of the Photo2Lab Client covers the complete range of photo products - from prints, posters, and canvas to photo gifts, personal to print products such as photo books, postcards, and photo calendars. It is based on a critically acclaimed software architecture ("PMA Retailer Hot Pick 2010"), and optimized to support HTML5, the next-generation open web standard that is currently rapidly reshaping the way content and services are presented online.
Will solutions that support HTML5 present a future-safe alternative for large retailers and photo service providers, who are looking for a way out of a dead-end technology? Ecce Terram's new online client, for example, is already backed by the company's long-time experience with large-scale deployments for customers like a famously cost-conscious large European retailer.
"For large retail chains and photo service providers, the launch of our new Photo2Lab Online Client sends a clear message," says Frank Simon, president and CEO of Ecce Terram USA: "They will be able to offer the full range of modern photo products and mobile ease-of-use that today’s customers demand." Simon: "Due to Ecce Terram's strong commitment to HTML5, they will also be able to avoid the costly burden that comes with having to develop for outdated or highly proprietary mobile technology platforms."
By 2013, the customer base for photo services and products will have gone mobile, predicts Simon, pointing to recent industry surveys. With the launch of the new Photo2Lab Online Client, his company joins the ranks of companies - the largest ones are Apple, Google and Facebook - who in the past weeks have made clear that they see HTML5 as a technology platform that will dominate the way online media are used and interacted with, for years to come.
According to Ecce Terram, recent surveys indicate - and most industry analysts agree - that 2012 will be year where worldwide sales of smart phones and tablet computers will surpass those of desktop and notebook computers. "You don't want to bet your company's photo business on developer solutions that support outdated, or esoteric proprietary platforms," says Mr. Simon. "If you do that - within 18 months, you are likely to reach less than 50 percent of the online users your company should reach."
The rapid recent shift in the online and mobile technology field has many large providers of photo processing and product services, like pharmacy chains and large electronic retailers, worried about how to protect their existing investments, while being able to develop new product lines. Industry analysts familiar with the photo services market like Frank Baillargeon, founder and president of f/22 Consulting, agree with Ecce Terram's assessment: that the safest and most cost-efficient solutions will have to include full support for the HTML5 standard.
"HTML5 will make it far easier for photo retailers and their service providers to develop and deploy critical cross-platform mobile applications," says Baillargeon, whose Eagle, Idaho-based firm provides market research and consulting services to the photographic industry.
According to Baillargeon, the combination of quality image capture and immediate access to satisfying photo product shopping experiences on mobile devices "can and should represent massive revenue growth opportunities for retailers."
Illustration
Ecce Terram launches its new software in the wake of Adobe's recent announcement to abandon its Flash™ player for mobile platforms. Version 2 of the Photo2Lab Client covers the complete range of photo products - from prints, posters, and canvas to photo gifts, personal to print products such as photo books, postcards, and photo calendars. It is based on a critically acclaimed software architecture ("PMA Retailer Hot Pick 2010"), and optimized to support HTML5, the next-generation open web standard that is currently rapidly reshaping the way content and services are presented online.
Will solutions that support HTML5 present a future-safe alternative for large retailers and photo service providers, who are looking for a way out of a dead-end technology? Ecce Terram's new online client, for example, is already backed by the company's long-time experience with large-scale deployments for customers like a famously cost-conscious large European retailer.
"For large retail chains and photo service providers, the launch of our new Photo2Lab Online Client sends a clear message," says Frank Simon, president and CEO of Ecce Terram USA: "They will be able to offer the full range of modern photo products and mobile ease-of-use that today’s customers demand." Simon: "Due to Ecce Terram's strong commitment to HTML5, they will also be able to avoid the costly burden that comes with having to develop for outdated or highly proprietary mobile technology platforms."
By 2013, the customer base for photo services and products will have gone mobile, predicts Simon, pointing to recent industry surveys. With the launch of the new Photo2Lab Online Client, his company joins the ranks of companies - the largest ones are Apple, Google and Facebook - who in the past weeks have made clear that they see HTML5 as a technology platform that will dominate the way online media are used and interacted with, for years to come.
According to Ecce Terram, recent surveys indicate - and most industry analysts agree - that 2012 will be year where worldwide sales of smart phones and tablet computers will surpass those of desktop and notebook computers. "You don't want to bet your company's photo business on developer solutions that support outdated, or esoteric proprietary platforms," says Mr. Simon. "If you do that - within 18 months, you are likely to reach less than 50 percent of the online users your company should reach."
The rapid recent shift in the online and mobile technology field has many large providers of photo processing and product services, like pharmacy chains and large electronic retailers, worried about how to protect their existing investments, while being able to develop new product lines. Industry analysts familiar with the photo services market like Frank Baillargeon, founder and president of f/22 Consulting, agree with Ecce Terram's assessment: that the safest and most cost-efficient solutions will have to include full support for the HTML5 standard.
"HTML5 will make it far easier for photo retailers and their service providers to develop and deploy critical cross-platform mobile applications," says Baillargeon, whose Eagle, Idaho-based firm provides market research and consulting services to the photographic industry.
According to Baillargeon, the combination of quality image capture and immediate access to satisfying photo product shopping experiences on mobile devices "can and should represent massive revenue growth opportunities for retailers."
Illustration
Print and online use, including on blogs, encouraged with coverage pertaining to this news release and the topic covered therein. All others: source credit required: "Source: © http://www.Ecce-Terram.com . All rights reserved."
You can download the illustration from our Media CI Page: http://www.Ecce-Terram.com/ci//
You can download the illustration from our Media CI Page: http://www.Ecce-Terram.com/ci//
About ECCE TERRAM
ECCE TERRAM was founded by Frank Simon in 1996. It has specialized in solutions for e-commerce for the photo industry, lab control, e-payment, and content management. The company's Internet applications are used by well-known companies in the photo industry and beyond. Company headquarters are located in Germany, in the U.S. and New Zealand.
About Photo2lab
The Photo2Lab Software Suite offers a complete solution from photo ordering to processing in commercial labs. It includes software applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux, web components, and modules for CD processing or mobile platforms, like iOS and Android devices. The modern connection protocol TRON is freely available and is supported by a variety of third parties. These provide solutions for, among other things, set-top boxes or kiosk terminals. Along with order processing, aspects such as payment, promotion, and adaptation options for affiliates and partners are taken into consideration as part of a white brand solution. The products can be used to handle anything from photo prints to hardcover photo albums, thus offering unique flexibility and openness with the goal of enabling solution customers to reduce costs and reach new target audiences.
In 2010, Photo2Lab installations handled orders with over 220 million digital photos, 500,000 photo albums and photo calendars.
Company Contact
ECCE TERRAM will present Version 2 of its Photo2Lab Online Client in Las Vegas from January 8 - 12, 2012. To schedule an appointment, please contact us by email at pma2012@ecce-terram.com or call us on +1 678 244 1521 (EST) within the United States/Canada, +64 9 304 0709 within New Zealand/Australia, and +49 441 500 120 within Europe.
Agency contact:
IITM LLP
Catalina Martínez
Head of International Communication
London, UK
Email: pr (at) iitm.info
Tel.: 020 76177469
http://IITM.info
The Photo2Lab Software Suite offers a complete solution from photo ordering to processing in commercial labs. It includes software applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux, web components, and modules for CD processing or mobile platforms, like iOS and Android devices. The modern connection protocol TRON is freely available and is supported by a variety of third parties. These provide solutions for, among other things, set-top boxes or kiosk terminals. Along with order processing, aspects such as payment, promotion, and adaptation options for affiliates and partners are taken into consideration as part of a white brand solution. The products can be used to handle anything from photo prints to hardcover photo albums, thus offering unique flexibility and openness with the goal of enabling solution customers to reduce costs and reach new target audiences.
In 2010, Photo2Lab installations handled orders with over 220 million digital photos, 500,000 photo albums and photo calendars.
Company Contact
ECCE TERRAM will present Version 2 of its Photo2Lab Online Client in Las Vegas from January 8 - 12, 2012. To schedule an appointment, please contact us by email at pma2012@ecce-terram.com or call us on +1 678 244 1521 (EST) within the United States/Canada, +64 9 304 0709 within New Zealand/Australia, and +49 441 500 120 within Europe.
Agency contact:
IITM LLP
Catalina Martínez
Head of International Communication
London, UK
Email: pr (at) iitm.info
Tel.: 020 76177469
http://IITM.info
Labels: flash, HTML5, mobile applications, online photo services, photographic industry, print processing, retail systems
