Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

Xerox aims to challenge HP with new colour printers

Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:50am IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

By Franklin Paul

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a move aimed at chipping away at Hewlett-Packard Co's dominance, Xerox Corp on Monday launched a system promising to slash the cost of colour printing for high-volume users willing to pay more initially for machines.

Xerox introduced five printers, including the Phaser 8860 which features new solid-ink technology, saying the system puts the cost of colour pages on par with that of black-and-white.

Solid ink uses wax ink sticks rather than the cartridges of powdered toner found in laser printers. The process works like that of a high-end offset press to create richer colours, the company says, and has significantly fewer disposable parts, which leads to lower maintenance costs.

"If you compare HP colour toner to what our inks will be, we will be one-fifth the price. We think it's going to help us grow our market share and attract a lot of customers who maybe don't consider Xerox today," said Jim Rise, a Xerox vice president.

Experts say colour documents are seen as more effective in communications, but the cost of buying new colour printers, supplies and service contracts has been a barrier to adoption.

Xerox says the printers cut the cost of printing a colour page to about 5 cents a page, a fraction of rival systems, which analysts peg at between 8 cents and 13 cents a page.

Yet to stay profitable, the Xerox printers are priced higher. The strategy is similar to Eastman Kodak Co's consumer inkjet printers unveiled this year. Both represent a shift from the so-called razor/razor blade model -- selling hardware at little or no profit to encourage sales of more profitable replacement ink and toner.

At $2,500 to $4,000, the Phaser 8860 is roughly $1,000 more than other Xerox products with similar functions, said analyst Angela Boyd of research firm IDC. That may lead some potential buyers to think twice.  Continued...

REUTERS WEEKEND

Glory for Big B

Lifetime award for Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.  Video 

'Trashy' Affair

Beijing man turns unwanted plastic bags into kites.  Video 

 
The new Droid phone, a Motorola Inc. and Verizon Wireless phone based on Google Inc's Android 2.0 system, is shown at a media event in New York October 28, 2009.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Motorola Droid

Not the Droid you’re looking for?  Blog 

View of the Casa Poporului or House of the People, now the Parliament Palace, in downtown Bucharest November 6, 2009.  REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel
Travel Postcard

48 hours in Bucharest for architecture buffs.  Full Article 

 

editor's choice

Air-to-Water

A French inventor has made a windmill that turns thin air into water.  Video 

Music Search
Music Search

Google launches music search with Lala, iLike.  Full Article 

 
Online Gaming
Online Gaming

China online game firms eye global crown.  Full Article 

Easy Charge
Easy Charge

One size fits all phone chargers on the way.  Full Article 

 
Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin poses with his G20 colleagues and central bank leaders during the family photo at the G20 Finance Ministers meeting at a hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland. REUTERS/POOL New
Pledge to support economies

G20 financial leaders pledged to prepare strategies to end emergency support for their economies, but to keep the aid flowing until recovery was assured.  Full Article | Related Story 

Photo
Photo
Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports Friday, 6 Nov 2009 

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.  Full Article