The Hard Copy Observer was a regular publication of Lyra Research based in Newtonville, Massachusetts.
Tekrati, a firm in the analyst relations business, summarized The Hard Copy Observer as "a leading publication serving the industry and, in fact, the printer industry bible.
A companion monthly newsletter, The Hard Copy Supplies Journal, was also developed to focus on the consumables portion of the business.
The first edition was 28 pages in length, and featured front-page stories about Xerox, Apple Computer, and Dataproducts.
The print version of the publication ended with the August 2009 issue,[3] and beginning in September 2009, the newsletter content was available online.