HP OPENS UP ON CARTRIDGE YIELDS

[Anonymous]

HP opens up on cartridge yields
Boxes will be more open about true costs as major rival enters market
HP
has confirmed that page yields of both standard and sample cartridges
will be printed on the boxes of new printers from autumn 2007.The move
follows complaints, highlighted in PCW last year, that sample
cartridges disguise the true cost of a printer. They run out very
quickly, and replacements can cost almost as much as a new
printer.Stated pages yields will be based on new ISO standards, though
there is not yet one for photoprints.HP is far from being the only
company to sell printers with sample cartridges. But UK sales director
Andrew Forsyth said it no longer does so with inkjets.The company is
offering a new “value” ink pack across its range of inkjets, and on
many models there is a new ‘specialty’ pack for photoprinting.Its
sensitivity may not be unconnected with the advent of a major new
player in the market HP dominates. Kodak is due this month to launch
two new all-in-one inkjets, the Easyshare 5300 and 5500, which are said
to print photos at between a third and half the cost of rival systems
and up to four times as fast.Forsyth said their claimed page rates
appeared to be 40 to 50 per cent lower than HP’s equivalent Officejet
Pro L7000, and he questioned whether Kodak’s cited printer costs were
based on standard pages.

[Author]

June 14, 2007 at 12:40 PM