The heads of three major printing franchise systems and PIA have been in discussions with HP about MarketSplash, the Web-to-print offering that is seen as competing with printers. Thus far there hasn’t been any resolution, but meetings are scheduled at On Demand and at HP headquarters. “The intent of this dialog with HP is to request they reconsider the positioning of MarketSplash before more damage is done to the HP name as they attempt to make further penetration into the print-for-pay market,” according to a letter sent by Allegra CEO Carl Gerhardt, AlphaGraphics CEO Kevin Cushing, and Franchise Services president Rich Lowe.

It remains to be seen if this effort will force HP to make any changes to MarketSplash. Back in 2007, Kodak rolled out a similar deal with its Creative Network, which lasted less than six months before they pulled the plug. The flap over the Kinko’s click-through button on Adobe Acrobat Reader prompted its removal. Will HP scrap MarketSplash? I have my doubts, but there may be some modification to come.

One touch of irony – some MarketSplash orders are routed to Staples, which uses mostly Xerox equipment.

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