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

Issue #0822/1 - In one of the most exciting developments seen in the field of business inkjet printing for years, brother has announced an A3 format inkjet All-in-One device, the MFC-6490CW, boasting a very high multifunction specification. Although the product is not yet announced in Europe, nor has it reached stores fully in the US, pricing is available for both hardware and print cartridges in the US so comparisons can be made against A3 single function inkjet, A4 multifunction inkjet and A4 multifunction laser devices.

Issue #0821/1 – Following the postponement of this article in favour of last week’s article ("Lexmark in-store inkjet visibility plummets"), we now consider the elusive new home/student range of inkjet devices from Lexmark and see just how expensive the X4650 is in comparison to its competition – Brother DCP-560CN, Canon PIXMA MP610, Epson Stylus Photo RX585 and Hewlett-Packard Photosmart C5280.

Issue #0820/1 – While undertaking research for an article on Lexmark’s recent launch of its new range of Home/Student inkjet devices, we were shocked at how difficult it is to find them in stores (article now to follow next week). So we decided that an impromptu survey was called for. In this article we analyse the share of ‘shelf space’ owned by each of Brother, Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark, together with the market conditions, strategies and implications. We see just how many Lexmark inkjet products are available in-store right now. It’s not a pretty sight – for Lexmark!

Issue #0820/2 - In a very interesting strategic move, Lexmark in the US is offering two free ink cartridges (carriage free) for every five cartridges that registered users buy at the Lexmark online store and return to Lexmark when empty.

Issue #0818/1 - Since last week’s TCPglobal article - "Mass merchandisers mislead customers over cartridge pricing", it has been announced that the UK now has a new law to protect consumers from the type of misleading claims highlighted in the article. This new suite of regulations is designed to place the UK in compliance with the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC) under which consumers receive the same degree of protection regardless of which EU member state they purchase goods in but could specifically affect printer manufacturers who use comparative advertising as part of their marketing strategy.