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MFPs overtake lasers as printer market changes shape
September
2007 – The printer market is continually reinventing itself. Newer,
faster and more converged printers are entering the market almost as
fast as it takes to spew out paper copies.The trend in the traditional
printer market is moving towards multifunctional products (MFPs) in
both colour and black-and-white. Based on a study by local research
company BMI, MFPs grew faster than the printer market in 2006
year-on-year, at 11.4%, versus 0.04%, which makes the MFP market bigger
than the traditional laser printer market. Even inkjet technology
declined 14.91% from 2005 to 2006.There is also a growing demand for printer networking, as workgroups can benefit from this.
However,
colour printers have had the biggest growth over the past year, with a
whopping 55.64% in printer market share. This can be attributed to
growth in colour everywhere. No more are there black-and-white TVs, and
even the CRT is disappearing and users are moving to colour LCD panel
monitors.Printers are following the trend to colour. And as more
players are launching colour devices, the option is becoming more
affordable to end-users who are using colour in documents as a
differentiator.Staying ahead of the game
Users
today have a myriad printer technologies available to them from all
major vendors. This makes the market very competitive. However, it is
competition that fuels the market and encourages market growth, demand
and innovation.Today printers lighten users’ loads through
time-reducing features, along with dynamic printer driver interfaces.
MFPs cater for every customer’s need. Ranging from personal
direct-connect devices and personal copiers to full multifunctional
network citizens, bringing great value to the office in a reduced
budget.Integrated MFPs ensure high productivity for everyone in the
office. No more time is wasted waiting for print and copy jobs. Clean
sheet digital design means simpler paper paths, better designed user
interfaces and intuitive feature selection, with no training required.
And push-button copying, printing, faxing, scanning and e-mail deliver
simplicity where the user needs it most.Ultimately, what differentiates
various printer companies is having a wide range of award-winning
products that provide value to-end users, world-class service,
performance in productivity, ease of use and value.Catering for today’s market
In
today’s market there are opportunities in imaging and archival as more
customers are looking to outsource their work, which presents a huge
opportunity for global services businesses.There is clearly a demand
for colour and the short-run printing business is also growing, which
offers an opportunity for production devices.Apart from the competitive
price levels in MFP segments, companies in today’s market must offer
cost control features and cost-saving benefits. These benefits will
enable customers to reduce costs on paper and telephone charges and
monitor usage through meter reads. The integrated multifunctional
design must also enable customers to do their work faster and more
effectively, thereby improving productivity. Devices mustn’t simply
print or copy, but they should work together with ERP applications and
integrate into workflows. Devices should also be Web-enabled.Products
must ultimately be designed to be productive and cost-effective in
order to help customers find better ways to do great work.
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