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HP Jet Intelligence – IDeAs comment

Read the 1st part, then the 2nd one.

These announcements are clearly seen by HP as some of the most significant developments since the original launch of the LaserJet printer 30 years ago.
Will they prove to be the game-changer which HP hopes for?

 

On the face of it, the customer benefits look very attractive. Smaller printers fit well with trends towards reduced office space, and the big improvements in output speed, cartridge yield and device durability should appeal to users’ requirements for ever growing productivity.

But when users are asked what they most want from print providers, controlling and reducing the cost of printing is usually very close to the top of the list of demands.

HP has not made cost a major focus in these announcements, although IDeAs understands that the devices announced this week will show reductions in cost per page of the order of 9%, compared with equivalent previous models. We wonder whether there may not be scope to go further in this direction, given the improvements in cartridge yield and reductions in toner waste.

At the same time, it seems clear that this technology is designed primarily for the transactional space, dominated by low and mid-range devices, rather than for contractual and MPS business, where there is a much greater focus on cost per page. Nevertheless, HP did announce that they will be launching separate SKUs which are enhanced for MPS.

The most immediate test of the success of this new technology will be in HP’s core battleground of transactional device sales vs. competitors such as Samsung and Brother. Here the interesting question is whether and how competition will respond to this initiative from HP.

In the longer run, we must wait to see how HP adapts and develops this technology for higher range models, and for the growing contractual/MPS part of the market.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to HP of this new technology will be in capturing more supplies revenue – by making it harder for compatibles manufacturers to match and compete with HP original cartridges. Understandably, HP did not want to comment on this point.

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This article was written on 25 Mar 2015, and is filled under Managed Print Systems, Point of View.

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