HP looks for more cash from printing
July 9th, 2009 Posted in General, Industry News
HP has been trumpeting a “world’s first” web-connected home printer.
The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web printer comes with a 4.3-inch wide touchscreen control pad that allows the user to gain access to a slate of applications that are preloaded on the device.
Users can use the screen to put in addresses and get directions and maps from Google and can also locate movie theaters and print tickets. It will hit the streets with a $399 price tag.
The new Internet linked printer is a change in philosophy for HP, which wants to get people thinking about doing new things with printers.
If all punters are going to do is print their photographs then HP is not going to be able to make shedloads of cash from selling them ink.
But if it can convince them to use new services online then not only will they use more ink they will end up signing up for more services.
While HP has made a fortune out of printers and ink over the last few years, the downturn in the economy has meant that people and companies have been thinking twice before they print anything. Good news for trees, but not so profitable for HP.
In its fiscal second-quarter results, HP saw its printer division revenue fall 23 per cent with operating profit down by nine per cent.
Printer unit shipments were off by 27 per cent with commercial units falling 36 per cent and consumer units down by 23 per cent from a year ago.
This had a knock-on effect on HP’s lucrative sales of printing supplies which declined by 14 per cent.
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