Color Laser Printer Market To Expand
The worldwide shipments
and sales of printers, copiers and multifunction products are expected
to increase steadily over the next five year.
Shipments are projected to surpass 124.7 million units this year, a 7.8
percent increase from 2004, Worldwide revenues for these products is
forecast to top $59.7 billion, up 4.5 percent from last year.
By 2009, worldwide sales are expected to exceed $60.7 billion, and shipments are forecast to surpass 148.9 million units.
Sales of color laser printers and multifunction products are expected
to be high-growth areas, as manufacturers focus on moving business
customers away from monochrome devices. Businesses have been reluctant
to make the move, because of the additional cost of color printing.
“However, photographs, color charts, graphics imaging, and the Internet
are driving the need to print in color,” Gartner analyst said in a
statement. “Many documents lose their impact and message if they are
not printed in color.”
The transition will make for an interesting market, as vendors fight to
keep their installed base, and others look to lure business customers
with new color offerings, Less than 6 percent of the pages printed in
the office are in color.