How many fax machines were sold in 2011

Yes, you heard that correct! But is its actual death imminent, or is the humble fax machine still going to be around for a while to come? When someone asks me if they can fax me a document, I tend to ask myself why people still use fax machines, while at the same time trying to find my fax-to-email number, which I keep in case of such emergencies.

While most of us have found favour with digital communication solutions, there are still many people who are reluctant to condemn their fax machine to join the millions of others on the technology scrapheap. There are a number of reasons why faxes continue to sell at least a few million worldwide every year. Despite their demise being widely predicted, they will continue to be useful for some years to come. One reason why people still enjoy it is the fact that the fax embraces handwriting, in particular signatures, and is a more personal approach compared to email.

The fax machine is still widely used in industries like real estate, banking, legal and medical, where more often than not, a written signature is necessary. Some countries still require faxing in order for a document to be recognised as legal. Because instead of mailing contracts and paperwork and waiting for signatures and approval over a period of weeks or even months, small businesses will be able to reduce their completion rate to just hours.

EchoSign isn't the only player in this space and there have been competitive services available to small business owners and individuals for years. One major alternative to EchoSign, DocuSign, has eight million customers and has overseen the signing of more than 70 million documents since But Adobe's decision to enter this market provides much-needed validation to electronic signatures, which many people still believe are illegal or a complete mystery, according to Marks. His team, based in Palo Alto, California, will join Adobe full-time and continue to oversee their product.

Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest. The Atlantic Crossword. Sign In Subscribe. Fong-Torres is on the phone with William Miller, the protagonist from Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous , explaining that Miller's still-unwritten piece on the band Stillwater has been selected for the cover.

Fong-Torres explains: "It's a very modern machine that transmits pages over the telephone. It only takes eighteen minutes a page It's a joke that always elicits a chuckle -- and I make a point of watching Almost Famous once a year or so. These offer consumers printing, scanning, photocopying and faxing functions.

Others are using software to mimic fax functions, essentially sending facsimiles as attachments to emails. So even if fax machines eventually disappear, the fax function will endure in other devices in homes and offices. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www. Please note that TheJournal. For more information on cookies please refer to our cookies policy.

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