*NEWS*KODAK’s INK CTGS & THE END-USER

[Anonymous]

Kodak’s Ink Jet Cartridges and the end-user
PARIS
It has long been a mystery and irritation to consumers: Why are ink-jet
printer cartridges so expensive?You can buy an entire printer for the
price of three or four ink refills. For people who print a lot of
photos at home, it feels like punishment for being a fan. For people
who might be tempted to custom- print their own, it is a real barrier
to even starting.Mostly, the out-of-kilter pricing is a quirk of how
the printer business evolved. It’s the razor-and- blade model: The
razor comes at an incredible value, but you are stuck buying expensive,
proprietary razor blades for as long as you shave.Kodak, struggling for
a way to reclaim its past glory in the digital age, has decided to
up-end the approach. This week, it got into the home ink-jet printer
business, but it was the printers’ replacement cartridges that got all
the attention. The more expensive color ink is priced at $15, while the
black ink cartridges go for $10.For those of us paying $30 and up each
time the printer runs dry, this is a godsend. Of course, Kodak’s
printers will not come at the dirt- cheap prices that we are now used
to, but at around $200, the all-in- one printer-scanner-copiers are not
completely out of reach, either.Hewlett-Packard, the biggest seller of
ink-jet printers, hasn’t officially responded to Kodak’s tactic. Nor
have Canon, Lexmark and the others.

The inevitable result of competition like this can only be good for the consumer, right?
You
might think so. But it may be too little, too late. Most of the
printing of photos from digital cameras is not done at home, but
through either Internet services or retail kiosks. Self-printing
accounts for only about 30 percent of the snapshots that end up on
paper, relegating us home-printing types to nearly the same niche
status as home darkroom developers of the film age.O.K., so if Kodak
can make printer cartridges at a profit for $10, why can’t the others?
My brilliant suggestion to Jaime Cohen Szulc, the chairman of Eastman
Kodak Europe, was for Kodak to make $10 cartridges for the other
printer manufacturers.Ah, but there’s a catch: One of the reasons Kodak
can cut the price and still claim to maintain high printing quality is
that it moved the “print head,” the mechanical device that actually
does the spraying of the ink, from the ink-jet cartridge to the printer
itself.The conventional approach of the other printer makers is to
craft the print head, at some expense, onto the cartridge. So Kodak’s
cartridges, even if they were slightly rejiggered to fit a Canon
printer, would still need to be re-engineered to include the print
head. Szulc said that this just was not going to happen.Besides, the
disgruntlement over ink prices isn’t just about the $30. It is also
about being locked into an HP replacement, for instance, if you have an
HP printer, and Kodak has not changed that part of the equation. The
existing printer manufacturers have made it difficult, if not
impossible, for outside companies to make knock-off (i.e., cheaper)
generic replacements.Szulc said the Kodak’s research has repeatedly
shown that dissatisfaction with the price of ink cartridges is
consumers’ No. 1 complaint about home printing. Most also say they
would print more if the cost were more reasonable.”We’re late to the
market,” he admitted. “That’s why we couldn’t come in with something
that’s only slightly better than what already exists.”Although Szulc
called his company’s tactic a “breakthrough” on pricing, he also said,
“We’re not doing this because we’re nice people. We intend to make
money on each printer and cartridge.” Kodak aims to be among the top
three printer makers in the world within three years, he said.Still,
Kodak is to be applauded for the move to cheaper cartridges, which will
roll out globally in stages. (Two of its new printer models will be
sold in Europe this spring before broader availability later in the
year; no specific plans have been announced for Asia.) It may yet
change the dynamics of the printer market. 

[Author]

February 16, 2007 at 12:23 PM