Inkjets produce smart results

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

The inkjet has triumphed over other types of printers in the past few years.

Of 200,295 printers of all types sold in New Zealand last year, inkjets accounted for 173,308 units or 86.5 per cent of the market, says market research firm IDC.

By comparison, the sales of dot matrix printers, making up 2.6 per cent of the market, or even laser printers with a 10.9 per cent market share, seem marginal.

While IDC hardware research analyst Darian Bird points out the average unit value of these types tends to be higher, it is the inkjet that is satisfying the demand for higher quality output at low cost.

He believes the inkjet's success is partly attributable to the arrival on the market of better quality scanners and digital cameras.

"As the quality of input devices has improved, so people are expecting more from their printers."

Mr Bird says the printer market in New Zealand is dominated by three manufacturers: Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Canon.

Although several other manufacturers are trying to enter the colour laser market, outside the big three only Lexmark is making significant sales.

IDC does not reveal individual manufacturers' market shares except to its paying clients, but industry sources have confirmed that in the first quarter of this year, Hewlett-Packard sold around 20,000 printers, followed by Epson and Canon with sales of 13,500 and 10,000 units respectively.

Hewlett-Packard looks set to remain in a strong position because of its wide range, but both Epson and Canon are determined to give the market leader a run for its money.

Epson hopes to reinforce its present strength in photo inkjet printers with the launch next month of Print Image Matching (PIM) technology, which it has developed in conjunction with digital camera manufacturers.

Epson marketing services manager Andrea Kahukiwa says PIM will produce much better quality prints by ensuring that the digital camera and printer work together.

"In the past digital cameras have been optimised for 256-colour computer displays, but PIM will ensure that full advantage is taken of the millions of colours that a printer can output," she explains.

PIM technology is exclusive to Epson printers, but it is being supported by several digital camera manufacturers, including Sony, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax and Casio.

Epson's Stylus Photo 895 will be the first printer to include PIM technology built in when it is launched next month, but the company's existing Stylus Photo 890 and 1200 printers will also be capable of being PIM-enabled if replacement drivers are installed.

The Stylus Photo 895 is expected to retail at $1399 plus GST, which is slightly more expensive than the 890, which costs $1290.

PIM technology also sacrifices some speed. On a Stylus Photo 895, PIM-matched pages will be printed at 7.8 pages a minute compared with a speed of 9.6 pages a minute when PIM is switched off.

Epson has also recently introduced two low-cost printers, the $199 C20UX and the C440, which retails at $279.

These entry-level printers are already being bundled by computer manufacturers such as The PC Company, for example, which is able to offer a PC, printer and scanner package for under $2000.

Meanwhile Canon, which has traditionally been strong at the low end of the printer and scanner market, is moving upmarket with the launch of its S800 and S400 printers.

Canon marketing manager Tim O'Shea says the S800, which offers a resolution of 2400 dots per inch both horizontally and vertically, is now the highest resolution inkjet on the market.

A unique feature of Canon's printers are separate ink tanks, which mean each colour can be replaced individually as the ink runs out.

"If you run out of cyan or magenta on our competitors' printers then you've got to replace the whole colour tank."