*NEWS*THE FALL OF THE INKJET PRINTER

[Anonymous]

The fall of the inkjet
August
22, 2007 -With extraordinarily cheap inkjet printers now lining the
shelves of electronics shops all around town, the cost conscious
consumer could be forgiven for thinking the moment has finally arrived
to print out all the family snaps sitting on their hard drive.But once
their brand new $49 printer has cranked out all of last year’s happy
snaps, a rude shock awaits; there is a very good chance their ink
refills will cost more than the printer did.

So how do the
printer manufacturers get away with charging so much for their
ink?While they claim that the cost is relative to the calibre of their
product, to those initially suckered in by the lure of a cheap printer,
it might feel more like highway robbery.The truth is that the vendors
have adopted a business model we do not normally associate with
technology products. To illustrate the ink sales model, think of razor
manufacturers who almost give away their latest five-blade model, and
then charge a small fortune for replacement blades. So, as inkjet
printers increasingly sink below the $100 mark, the price of
replacement ink cartridges creeps ever higher.

But a recent
study conducted by Choice magazine reveals that, often the cheaper the
printer, the more expensive it will prove to maintain over time.In two
separate inkjet tests run in the past year, the magazine concluded that
the cheapest models on the market cost substantially more to own over a
year than those which cost more and which had the lowest running
costs.In the most recent study, it concluded: “We’ve done some simple
comparisons including the purchase price as well as running costs. The
cheapest printer to buy (Canon Pixma MP160) is still $110 more
expensive to own for three years than the cheapest to run (Canon Pixma
MP530).”Although comparative price-per-page data for the full range of
printers on the market is hard to come by, internet chat forums are
stuffed full of tips on how to lower average printing costs, and
third-party ink suppliers are doing a roaring trade, despite
manufacturers’ dire warnings that these products will produce inferior
prints.

But Rishi Ghai, an IDC research analyst says that the
printer makers’ sales models continue to work in spite of cheaper
alternatives on the market because many buyers of inkjet printers
“don’t want a high involvement decision” when it comes to procuring
replacement ink cartridges.Indeed the sales model promises to become so
profitable for printer makers that the low end of the market is
becoming increasingly crowded, with machines costing less than $100 now
accounting for more than 33 per cent of the total market, up from less
than 7 per cent in 2005, Mr Ghai saidThe first to kick back against
that trend is Kodak, a new entrant to the inkjet market. The company is
hoping to grab headlines with the news that its new Easyshare 5300
multifunction inkjet printer due to hit the shelves here in September
will slice up to 50 per cent off the average cost of ink. Although the
machine will not compete in the sub $100 segment, the company believes
the $299 inkjet will have broad appeal owing to the lower cost of
replacement ink.Magnus Felke, product marketing director at Kodak,
says: “When I talk to customers they talk about how much they limit
themselves or their kids in printing because of the cost of ink. We are
embracing a very different business model. We want to be
disruptive.”However Robin Kenyon, managing director of Calidad,
Australia’s largest seller of printer refill kits, argues that it isn’t
necessarily cost that prevents people from printing out their photos at
home.”Price may be important but the key reason that people are not
printing their photos is because they don’t know how. The technology is
still too complex.”He says that, despite an excellent range of printers
on the market, the expertise required to combine the camera, printer
and their associated software is still too much for the average
user.Not only that, but he says the biggest stumbling block of all is
that most people still believe that they can only print photos on A4
sized paper at home  when in fact most printers can easily handle
smaller prints.”The printer manufacturers have created beautiful
equipment, but I cannot count the number of times I have asked people
with printers what they do with their photos only to discover they are
still in their camera or the computer. So there is a pent-up demand of
people who would like to print but are unaware of how to achieve it
using the technology they already have,” he says.

Another
concern that is often voiced by potential buyers is image quality.
However Mr Kenyon says that technology has now reached the stage at
which most inkjet printers are able to produce very attractive prints,
so it is matters such as the speed at which photos are printed, and
additional functions, that will determine the final price of the
unit.But there is still the issue of durability of those photos that
you decide to print.  A total of 23.1 million printer ink cartridges
were bought in Australia last year, and, of these, 3.2 million were
cheaper third-party refill inks.”We do not claim to have the same print
life or quality [as original manufacturer ink],” Mr Kenyon said. “We
offer value and choice and we are not claiming to be the same. However,
the point is that, regardless of the ink, precious photos are generally
well cared for and well protected, and far less subject to harsh
environmental influences that are known to diminish their quality over
time.”

[Author]

August 23, 2007 at 12:25 PM