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Date: Monday May 9, 2005 10:06:00 am
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    Home Photo Printer Market Booming: Up Almost $400 Million in
    2004

    WEYMOUTH, Mass.–May,2005–A 39% surge in photo printer
    shipments in 2004 drove an 8% increase in the overall home printer market,
    according to a new report from InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. Additionally, the photo
    printer category as a whole hit $1.5 billion in 2004, experiencing a 33% revenue
    growth over 2003.

    “The digital camera revolution has ignited demand for better home photo
    printing solutions,” said Ed Lee, director of the Photo Printing Trends service
    at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. “Vendors have seized on the opportunity by rolling
    out a succession of new photo printing features, spawning upgrades that are
    meeting consumer needs and invigorating the stagnant printer market.”

    The new photo features are injecting excitement back into the space, with
    innovations such as ink/paper bundles that guarantee a fixed price per print.
    There are also new ways to simplify getting pictures out of the camera and into
    the printer: camera docks, USB-direct-to-camera, card slots, and wireless. New
    printheads, new ink formulations, and new photo papers have led to vast
    improvements in speed, quality, and print durability.

    “Home printer vendors are in a battle for the print market, and they don’t
    intend to lose,” said Lee. “Watch for them to keep up the pressure with
    continued improvements throughout 2005, to neutralize the advantages of retail
    printing. To further sweeten the pot, vendors are lowering the cost of prints,
    so prices are now competitive with retail and online printing.”

    The snapshot printer market is the surprise success story of 2004, up 170%
    from 2003 to reach 2.2 million units. These dedicated photo printers are
    designed to do one thing extremely well: print snapshots. Although they make up
    less than 5% of the total home printer market, they are ideal for
    photo-intensive users who spend a lot more on print consumables than the average
    user. Hence many players like Canon, Dell, Epson, Kodak, Lexmark and Sony are
    now jumping into this space or intensifying efforts, after allowing
    Hewlett-Packard’s inkjet models to dominate the space early on.

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