TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue #0936/1 – Recent reports in the press and in Hewlett-Packard’s quarterly financial results and end of year round-up indicate that the company is putting its shareholders, and pressure from Wall Street, above the welfare of its staff and customers, to the detriment of its business. Supply of printers has not met demand and EDS staff in the UK are reported to be planning a strike, as has already occurred in Germany.

Issue #0933/2 – Hewlett-Packard is in acquisition mode again, announcing this week that it has reached agreement with 3Com for a purchase to the value of $2.7billion. While Hewlett-Packard’s largest business is now the Personal Systems Group, rather than the Imaging and Systems Group, as it used to be, and 3Com is a network switching, routing and security solutions company, the purchase does potentially have implications to Hewlett-Packard’s printing business.

Issue #0933/1 – We’re not used to seeing Epson as a cost-leader in the home inkjet market but its new Stylus SX510W fills just that position, displacing Canon and Hewlett-Packard from a more typically lower cost position. This is the second article in which we compare Total Cost of Printing between the new inkjet All-in-Ones from Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark with others on the market – this time taking a slice of the home-oriented portion of the market. We consider the Brother DCP-375CW, Canon PIXMA MP620, Epson Stylus SX510W (we’ll use the European name as pricing is sourced in Europe), Hewlett-Packard Photosmart B109n and Lexmark Interpret S405.

Issue 0930/1 – Lexmark has also introduced a large number of new inkjet models to market in recent weeks and, like Hewlett-Packard, is attempting to inject a degree of inventive naming into the mix. With all products built on the same print engine and offering exactly the same print speed, all models are built for business use of some sort, whether home office or professional business, indicating a major departure from tradition for Lexmark on several fronts. High-end specifications are high and functionality is extensive.

Issue #0929/1 – IBM has provided conclusive proof that, in a harsh economic environment, it is those that have a sold services offering that stand the best chance of surviving and even flourishing. IBM posted net profit for the 3rd quarter of 2009 to the tune of $3.2bn, up 14% on Q3 of last year, while all indications so far are that IT hardware sales, and even sales of printer supplies are still flagging badly.