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Cartridge wars
HP launches two-pronged defence
nov
2007 : ireland:There are lies, damned lies, and press releases. The
battle for inkjet cartridge mindset and consumers’ euros has long been
a contentious issue as the OEM printer manufacturers strive to protect
their very profitable piece of turf in a market worth $25 billion
worldwide. Printer manufacturers successfully play on fear, uncertainty
and doubt (the so-called FUD factor) while their competitors play
successfully on lower prices and environmental benefits, despite the
FUD propaganda.The latest battle in the war of words takes the
form of a two-pronged strike by HP. The first arm of its pincer
movement was the recent publication of a comparative report claiming
better page yields and higher quality results from HP brand cartridges
compared to refills. The firm’s second strike against the refiller
market was the announcement that its new cartridges now come in two
sizes, with one costing much less (and printing fewer pages).The
authors of the comparative report claimed that “European research firm
Innovationstechnik proves original HP inkjet cartridges print more and
are more reliable than alternatives”. Since the report was commissioned
by HP, it is fair to assume we may never have heard about it if the
researchers had reached the opposite conclusion.The report concluded
that HP ‘originals’ print 34% more pages than compatible alternatives
and 69% more than refilled cartridges. The commissioned report also
concluded that more than one in five compatible alternatives was dead
on arrival or failed prematurely and that one in three refills was DoA
or failed prematurely. The test covered 1,000 inkjet cartridges from 16
established European suppliers, including Pelikan, Staples, Tesco,
Cartridge World and Vobis.HP’s advertising in Britain recently
led to a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority by the UK
Cartridge Recyclers Association by suggesting that using refilled
cartridges was like “eating used food” and by suggesting that the
environmental benefits of recycled cartridges were of little
significance.Commenting on the results of the Innovationstechnik study,
HP IPG country manager Gary Tierney told Irish Computer: “Second-hand
ink cartridges clearly carry a risk . . . Consumers should be clear
that, whichever type of second-hand cartridge they choose, they will
probable get less both in terms of reliability and the number of pages
they can print. There is a clear trade-off for paying a lower price,
and this research really underlines that.”After collating
material from focus groups, market research and help desk calls, HP
concluded that its inkjet customers’ profile can be broadly divided
into two groups. One comprises low-level users who want low prices. By
contrast, the second group prints more pages and is more concerned
about long term values and infrequent intervention rates. So now HP
provide two cartridge sizes. Its Standard pack prints about 200 pages
(rated by the ISO/IEC 24711 system of calculating yield), and costs
€9.99. The Value pack has more ink, yielding about 1,000 pages and
reducing the cost per page by between 35 and 55%, HP claims. A third
type, the photo cartridge, will be available for some printers for
premium quality and enhanced performance.All major OEM
suppliers are caught up in ink wars. Epson’s main battle is with the
compatible cartridge manufacturers – of which there are hundreds in
Asia, according to Iain Friar, Epson’s European IP manager. He says
Epson has a robust patent enforcement policy, with 25 infringement
cases settled in Europe in the past 18 months.Friar said a high
proportion of printers returned to service centres contained non-Epson
cartridges. He said most problems resulted from dirty ink, bubbles, and
the use of conventional ink in printers designed for pigments, which
have different characteristics.
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