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HP Businesses Technology

HP Stops Selling Printers, Starts Selling Prints 346

An anonymous reader writes "HP has launched a new line of business printers but there's a big catch — you won't be able to buy one. For the first time in history, the company will make customers purchase printing services, rather than the product itself. At its biggest printer launch since the LaserJet in 1984, HP's new business-class Edgeline printers will only be available through a managed services contract. Pricing will be per page, depending on the quality of the printout. Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now."
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HP Stops Selling Printers, Starts Selling Prints

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  • by EveryNickIsTaken ( 1054794 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:05PM (#18800403)
    So, they're not stopping selling printers, they've just released a new line of contracted/leased service printers. Nice work.
  • Bad Headline (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cashman73 ( 855518 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:05PM (#18800407) Journal
    I don't see that HP will stop selling printers. They just won't sell this one. You can still buy other HP printers, though. But the Edgeline does seem like a nice printer, though. $50 says that in 5 years, every office will have one (that they own).
    • Re:Bad Headline (Score:5, Interesting)

      by garcia ( 6573 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:13PM (#18800579)
      But the Edgeline does seem like a nice printer, though. $50 says that in 5 years, every office will have one (that they own).

      I'm not sure why they are now just claiming that they are ink efficient. My HP DeskJet 400C was so ink efficient that I used the same black and white cartridge for 5 years in college until it completely broke down and several hardware rollers came out with the final page of my Senior Thesis.

      I replaced it with another HP DeskJet expecting the same kind of service level but found that the printer hardware was cheap, the ink needed to be replaced MUCH MORE often (every two months at my levels), and that it was sometimes less money to buy a new DeskJet each time at Walmart than to replace the ink cartridge.

      I don't own a printer any more and only use a printer at work when I absolutely must have something printed out (tax time is about the only thing I can think of in recent memory).

      Let's go back to the ink efficient days of the DeskJet 400C and fuck these contract based service packages.
      • by iminplaya ( 723125 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:19PM (#18800697) Journal
        Let's go back to the ink efficient days of the DeskJet 400C and fuck these contract based service packages.

        What? Are you one of those radical/liberals who place customer value and/or human rights above corporate profits? Infidel! Heathen!
      • Re:Bad Headline (Score:4, Informative)

        by SQLGuru ( 980662 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:26PM (#18800771) Homepage Journal
        That's part of the business model of printers these days. Provide a subsidy on the hardware and make it up in consumables (ink, paper, etc.). Keep in mind, that printer that is cheaper than new ink cartridges only comes with "starter" cartridges which hold less ink than the normal ones. So, it might be cheaper, but you also get less ink (and therefore have to replace more frequently). But, you can probably make up the difference by selling the older printer on eBay or something.

        I'd like to see the profit point on printers. How many ink cartridges do I have to buy for them to make up the loss on the hardware? Do companies plan for that payback over time? What is their estimate on how long it takes?

        Layne
      • If you print a lot of color and can afford it, get a color laser printer. It's significantly cheaper to operate than any ink jet.

        Regardless of your technology choice, don't purchase an HP.

        There are lots of excellent choices out there. I'm not sure why you'd choose HP.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by cultrhetor ( 961872 )
          When one makes a strong - almost commanding - declaration such as that, he should at least have the courtesy to support his statement with a fact or two.
        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Anubis350 ( 772791 )
          There are lots of excellent choices out there. I'm not sure why you'd choose HP.

          Very good linux drivers?
          • It Depends... (Score:4, Interesting)

            by superbrose ( 1030148 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @01:21PM (#18801765) Homepage

            Thanks to the excellent Linux support by the HPLIP Project [sourceforge.net] I am faithful to HP, at least for the time being. I am quite impressed that pretty much all features of my all-in-one printer have been working for years, without any major glitches.

            I have seen the Windows HP drivers (quite a while ago) and have to say that at the time they were far too intrusive for my liking and I would not have used the HP software under Windows. So I'd buy an HP printer for Linux, but if I were using Windows I'd probably compare lots of makes first and my choice might be different.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by Dan Ost ( 415913 )
          HP printers are almost universally supported under Linux.

          I don't think any other brand of printer can say the same.
      • by Kadin2048 ( 468275 ) <slashdot...kadin@@@xoxy...net> on Thursday April 19, 2007 @01:03PM (#18801411) Homepage Journal
        Let's go back to the ink efficient days of the DeskJet 400C and fuck these contract based service packages.

        Why don't you just buy a laser printer?

        I can't believe anyone with a clue is still using ink-based printers, with lasers being the price they are now. You can get a fairly inexpensive Samsung or maybe even an HP laser printer for $100 - 150, sometimes on sale for under 100, and with a full toner cartridge get thousands of pages out of it.

        They're so far superior to ink-based printers that I just don't understand why anyone wouldn't use them. The only thing they don't do, or that you have to pay a significant amount extra for, is color. But really, for the occasional color print you can keep one of those more-expensive-than-liquid-gold ink printers around if you really need it. Or pay the $250 or $300 to get a color laser (and probably step up to something that'll do duplexing).

        Inkjet printers need to die, as a technology. The only niche market they deserve to keep is for photo printing for the terminally impatient and un-quality-conscious folks who can't or don't want to drive down to their local CVS/WalMart and use a lightjet.
        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by walt-sjc ( 145127 )
          Inkjet's still have a market - very wide format (larger than 11x17.) Also, they are better for photos than laser, although I prefer my Kodak thermal transfer printer for photos.

          Color lasers also tend to to be freakin huge, and noisy. My last inkjet went into the garbage can a couple months ago, when I picked up a Ricoh SP C410dn that works VERY well. At 100 pounds and 19wx25dx19h, it wants a dedicated table. I specifically avoided color lasers that work on the carousel system, where color prints are one fou
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by pla ( 258480 )
        Let's go back to the ink efficient days of the DeskJet 400C and fuck these contract based service packages.

        You actually can get inkjets that don't cost a fortune in ink to run. The catch? You pay a bit more up-front (but you also get a much better quality of device than the $49 wallyworld inkjet special).

        First thing to look for - separate CMYK cartridges, possibly with separately replaceable printheads. That alone will save a fortune over tri/quadcolor cartridges. I don't, however, recommend the on
      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by AndersOSU ( 873247 )
        I used the same black and white cartridge for for about three years. Then it ran out of white.
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by vimh42 ( 981236 )
      $50 says that in 5 years, every office will have one (that they own).

      Sort of. People will decide they don't want to pay the service contract and some entrepreneurs will come up with ink refills and firmware hacks (in case there is some on-line killswitch). A new round af lawsuites will hit.
  • Wow... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jaysyn ( 203771 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:05PM (#18800415) Homepage Journal
    ... who says they need Carly Fiornia to make stupid decisions...
    • Re:Wow... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by jimstapleton ( 999106 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:12PM (#18800547) Journal
      Actually, this is a business class printer, not a home printer.

      Which means it's not such a bad decision - businesses seem to like things like this, where the only responsibility to them is to have static per-page cost of the printer.
      • Woe unto the employee who doesn't check the file size and sends a 200 page doc to the printer. There'll be someone from HR waiting for them when they go to get it.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by arminw ( 717974 )
        ......Actually, this is a business class printer, not a home printer.......

        The idea of leasing expensive things is nothing new. When Xerox made their first copiers, these were available only on a lease-service basis. IBM mainframes were not sold, but leased. Many businesses lease their equipment and buildings. Cost per page isn't the only consideration for many buisnesses. Leasing has tax advantages. Maybe some /. readers don't know this?

        So why is this worthy of an article on the main page here? Must be a s
  • What a pity (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DamnRogue ( 731140 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:07PM (#18800465)
    "Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now." So they've innovated their way out of their own ability to gouge their customers? My heart bleeds...
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by zappepcs ( 820751 )
      No shit, when people ask me if I can help them with their 3 year old printer that has stopped working my first question is does it need new ink soon? The answer is always yes. Okay, for about $100 or less, you can go to the store and buy some new fancy ink that comes shipped with a brand new printer - viola! your problems are solved. It probably has better and more features than your old printer too.
      • by rs79 ( 71822 )
        I thougt I was the only one. Every year my wife put "ink" on her xmas list. Last time I went it was cheaper to buy a new printer with full ink (that made GREAT prints) than it was to buy ink for her "old" (2-3 yrs?) printer that made crappy prints.

        Don't look at me I don't do paper. And am typing this on a 24 year old (M) keyboard.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by AvitarX ( 172628 )
          But printers usually don't come with full ink.

          I don't mean to single you out, lots of people say printer cheaper than ink, but ink in new printers is usually 1/4 or 1/2 a store baught cartridge (check product numbers).
        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by shaitand ( 626655 )
          Those are starter cartridges. Some brands like HP try to trick you now. They sell the starter size cartridges (and call them 'normal') in addition to a normal size cartridge they now call 'large'. That way the salesman call tell you they come with a full cartridge and the part number matches. It still has the same amount of ink in it as the starter cartridge of old.

  • How innovative (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CastrTroy ( 595695 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:08PM (#18800473)
    Many businesses have been getting printers they way for a long time. The only difference is that this time it's the printer manufacturer that's getting the service contract, and not some third party company. In my opinion, this makes perfect sense. The company who made the product is probably the one most qualified to fix and service it. Granted, you probably won't be able to shop around, because if you want that printer, there's no competition, but you'll still be able to compare with other printer brands.
    • Re:How innovative (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:18PM (#18800667)
      It will still be the same third party companies supporting these printers. They will just be "Authorized HP Printer Service Representatives."
      • So how is this different from any other printer leasing service. I'm pretty sure that other manufacturers don't honor warranties unless the work is done by a certified repair person. The definitely won't honor the warranty if bob from accounting decides he's going to "fix" the printer.

    • The only difference is that this time it's the printer manufacturer that's getting the service contract, and not some third party company.

      Woe be unto the OEM that pisses on their channel.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by swb ( 14022 )
        They have been pissing on their channel for a long time with online sales; this is just them dropping drawers and shitting on the channel, too.

        HP just realizes that they participate in a functional duopoly with a direct-sales competitor who doesn't really have a channel and that they don't need to be slaves to theirs.

        I'm surprised that they would approach this printing market, though. One of the advantages owning your own printer has is that its much cheaper to own than any of the "managed services" pay-pe
    • by Itninja ( 937614 )
      I used to work for a repro shop and that's how all thier big printers were handled (kinda). We bought several $150K printers from a company called Oce. So the machines belonged to us. But they were so complex that they required pretty regular maintenence. So the Oce techs were contracted to keep them running. In return for that, we got a heavy discount on toner and paper from Oce.

      So we did actually get to buy the machines, but they didn't really do anything unless the manufacturer's tech kept them running
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by hackstraw ( 262471 )
      Many businesses have been getting printers they way for a long time.

      Xerox is doing the same thing. IBM is doing the same thing, different way.

      We are in a post-industrial world. The industrial revolution brought us dirty factories and practically slave labor and goods for cheap. For the most part, industry is done in China now. However, some goods are still made here in the US because its cheaper to make them here than to ship them here for things like cars, but most of the doodads you buy are made in c
  • cartridge refills (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hjf ( 703092 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:10PM (#18800509) Homepage

    Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now.
    Bull. They realized they can't win against cartridge refills. So this is what they're doing to stop refillers.
    • Re:cartridge refills (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:13PM (#18800577)
      Exactly. They claim only a 30% ink saving ... kind of hard to believe that they can't makee it up by increased demand, same as everyone else does when they lower costs.
  • by rolfwind ( 528248 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:13PM (#18800567)
    of this company here:
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/ 22/1241222 [slashdot.org]

    Basically the ultrawide print head and instataneous drying times, etcetera. Any confirmation?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by rolfwind ( 528248 )
      I'll answer my own question, due to the similarities in technology features, boasts of print speeds, and memjets unwillingness to make a product but rather license it - it seemed plausible that HP licensed it but that is probably not the case.

      In the article on the /. article I linked to above about memjet, it says:
      "HP's competing printer costs $16,000

      While Edgeline could be the closest competitor to Memjet in terms of speed, it appears to be far more expensive (than memjet)."

      Interesting competition coming u
  • by drgonzo59 ( 747139 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:16PM (#18800629)
    Sounds like a big marketing hype.


    COMPANY: Our technology is so good we can't even sell it. But of course if you are willing to pay a premium we might consider it....


    COSTOMER: Oh, wow. This shit has to be good if they can't sell it. We have to see if HP will sell it to _us_. We'll even offer them to pay extra.


    COMPANY: Suckers...!

    ...


    Reminds of when I went shopping for cars with my uncle in Odessa, Ukraine. This guy was selling used cars. At the end of the lot he had a car covered under a sheet. My uncle asks, what's model you have there. He said "That's not for sale." He then proceeded to tell us how that was a special model blah blah blah. Then my uncle talked him into selling it, payed extra for the 'special' features. Then as we drove away it, the salesman took the sheet and put it on the car right next to it. Seems like HP is doing the same thing here...

    • Reminds of when I went shopping for cars with my uncle in Odessa, Ukraine. This guy was selling used cars. At the end of the lot he had a car covered under a sheet. My uncle asks, what's model you have there. He said "That's not for sale." He then proceeded to tell us how that was a special model blah blah blah. Then my uncle talked him into selling it, payed extra for the 'special' features. Then as we drove away it, the salesman took the sheet and put it on the car right next to it. Seems like HP is doin
  • Do I care how its cheaper? Already in many large companies Pitney Bowes has some kind of volume printing deal where they own and operate the devices out on the floor. Beats the hell out of device support on my dime every time something goes wrong with these fragile mechanical devices.
  • I'm in IT, and we measure all costs per page, managed or unmanaged. Most people don't even think of cost over the life of the printer, and choose inkjets because they are 1/5 the price of laser, and spend much more over the life of the printer buying ink.
    • Exactly. This is why I have a sheet of paper next to my printer, wherein I record every single sheet that comes out of it, which client it was for, and even which project for which client. We then pass those charges along as part of our yearly budgeting proposals.

      Yes, it's an hp. Yes, the ink carts are ridiculously expensive. No, I wouldn't have it any other way. :-)
    • by shaitand ( 626655 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @01:09PM (#18801539) Journal
      'I'm in IT, and we measure all costs per page, managed or unmanaged. Most people don't even think of cost over the life of the printer, and choose inkjets because they are 1/5 the price of laser, and spend much more over the life of the printer buying ink.'

      True but its an artificial increase. Once upon a time I printed 500-2000 page books on my HP deskjet printers. Not one printer died and the cartridge lasted. Now you'd run out of ink if you printed a 200 page book.

  • China factor? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by owslystnly ( 873793 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:20PM (#18800703)
    I noticed that the product launch was in China, and that had me thinking...

    The chinese are notorious for buying something, reverse engineering it, and within a period of time having a duplicate chinese version for sale. Maybe HP is trying to prevent that from happening?
  • Folks, can anyone say that the time is not right for an "Open Source" printer? A printer of this kind would be loaded with "Open spec" printer ink or tonner formula. We surely can find cheap Asian manufacturers to produce the actual printer hardware.

    I am sure some will see my suggestion as trying to cut HP's air supply. I love to say that that's not evil at all.

  • Because HP printers have gone in the fucking toilet and I'm not buying any more of them. We already have a Xerox copier/printer on a lease agreement, so if HP offered me the chance to scream and yell at them instead of IT (a department by which I am employed) I would be interested. I'd love to ditch this HP Laserjet 5550n behind me and to the left for something with Duplex. HP stopped making duplex add-ons for their printers several years ago in order to make shitpiles more money. If you fear you might one
  • Broken model? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by a_nonamiss ( 743253 )
    Here's a new idea. Why not make a printer, and sell it for what it costs to make, plus fair profit for the company? You could even use this same wacky business model for the ink! I know it doesn't quite follow the over-simplified model of selling a printer at just enough to cover your costs, then soak the end user with grossly overpriced consumables because that ensures a source of renewable income, thus making the your budget spreadsheet nice and pretty, but I think people have made it work in the past. Li
    • The model is way older than Polaroid. King Gillette usually gets the credit, and his company (founded in 1901) keeps doing it to this day. Err, that's "give away the razor and sell the blades", not "add another blade and call it innovation".
    • Re:Broken model? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by danpsmith ( 922127 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @01:32PM (#18801993)

      Here's a new idea. Why not make a printer, and sell it for what it costs to make, plus fair profit for the company? You could even use this same wacky business model for the ink! I know it doesn't quite follow the over-simplified model of selling a printer at just enough to cover your costs, then soak the end user with grossly overpriced consumables because that ensures a source of renewable income, thus making the your budget spreadsheet nice and pretty, but I think people have made it work in the past. Like every company that ever sold anything before the 1970's.

      You are missing something here. In the 1970s a lot of these companies were newer and therefore not completely used to screwing over the customer quite yet. Unfortunately the way corporations operate is by constantly cutting margins and finding new ways to screw the consumer. The problem is that investors want the company to put out more profits while making the same product with, in some cases, the same marketshare. So if your company is making one thing en masse, and everyone pretty much already has one and is satisfied etc, that's a dry market. No growth. No growth, no investors. No investors in public corporate speak and no money, no money, no company. The end result, companies have to keep cutting margins on old things especially if they have few new products, because they have to turn more and more profits. The model is flawed. Every cost must eventually be cut and that's why all major printer makers now follow this model.

  • Isn't this essentially the same as what copy centers @ Staples and other companies do? I would think that going to service like this would be better because it's done within two days, no need to ship or anything.
  • by Animats ( 122034 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:35PM (#18800927) Homepage

    Maybe the problem with the thing is that it takes significant maintenance support. Xerox copiers and printers back in the selenium drum era were leased, because they cost so much and required considerable skilled maintenance. If this new technology has that problem, a lease-only approach at introduction makes sense.

  • by TechyImmigrant ( 175943 ) * on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:35PM (#18800935) Homepage Journal
    I'd be willing to bet that they have it in mind to avoid the competition to future models that this model represents.

    For example, I'd have a quite nice office class networked, duplexing, HP laserjet 4si printer nestled under my desk at home. It's a 200lb beast that keeps on printing. The $100 cartridges last a year. I got it for $200 off ebay and $50 for a service kit. To buy something similar new would cost me $4-$5k. I expect that it will keep going for years.

    Just as test equipment manufacturers know about their old scopes, HP knows that one of it's biggest competitors is not other printer manufacturers, but the installed base of high quality, high reliability, maintainable workhorse printers they sold in the past.

    Leasing printing services rather than selling printers means they never suffer from this new model surviving 15 years down the road, competing with their new new model.
  • ...means HP still has to offer "a deal" to customers, otherwise Xerox or another company will take the customer's money.
  • If the cost per print is good I thin k it has a chance. Our copiers are on a "per copy" supplies/maintenence plan (At work we pay our copier co. per the number of copies a month, then the toner drum, maintenece, etc. are provided just by a phone call.)
  • Good riddance (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Safety Cap ( 253500 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:42PM (#18801047) Homepage Journal
    Ever since the Engineers were forced out (early retirement/riffed) and replaced by people who didn't know or work under Bill or Dave, HP's products have sucked.

    Their calculators have become a laughing stock. The lucky folks who still have a functional 12c from the days of old (early 80s) will enjoy them for decades more to come. I'd sooner use a bag of rocks than a 12c built during/after the Lewis Platt (successor: Carly) regime.

    While this announcement is for a business printer, expect this trend to continue. Cheap printers are a commodity, so squeezing pennies out of the market will eventually lead to "virtual printers" or somesuch idiocy. Smart people are willing to pay for quality, someone just needs to offer a quality printer.

    HP isn't the company to do it. Not any more.

  • ...is Epson's gain.

    I'm ok with sending finished photography work to a service bureau, but for intermediate prints, I really need to have my own printer. After 20 years of HP printers, my next one'll be Epson...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by shaitand ( 626655 )
      You realize that they are going to leave the printer sitting on your desk right? They are going to lease you the printer, then they provide the maintainence, repairs, ink, paper, etc. At the end of the month they charge you based on the number of pages you used.

  • by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:45PM (#18801103) Journal
    Everything in the summary is based on info in TFA, notably EXCEPT that:

    Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now."


    TFA didn't say that, and I don't see any source for it. What TFA did say was that it will "lower colour operating costs by up to 30 percent".

    30% isn't exactly enough to make inkjet cartridge sales worthless, now is it?

  • Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now.

    Wonder if this amazing technology will ever trickle down to consumer printers (that suck expensive ink like a crack head)...

  • Gee, No. (Score:4, Funny)

    by wandazulu ( 265281 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:51PM (#18801217)
    I want a print-out of something so I can mark it up, scribble, etc. If I want the level of quality this thing suggests, I'll take it to a bureau and get it professionally printed and bound.

    It also reminds me of an office I worked in back-in-the-day where the copier had an odometer and Xerox charged based on the monthly count; it was cheaper to have a typist re-type the one page or two page document 3 or 4 times. If we needed a lot of copies, which wasn't often, we might take it to the local Kinkos, depending on what we wanted. Xerox eventually canceled the contract because it was more expensive to send a guy to read the meter than what they were billing. Funny thing is, they let us keep the copier.
  • by happy_place ( 632005 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:54PM (#18801267) Homepage
    Xerox has a system that charges businesses per page... It's called their document center, we have one where I work... and you don't own the printers, etc... and you get yelled at by the boss if you print anything in color... Imo, This is really just HP attempting to play catchup. --Ray
  • Not news (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MrNougat ( 927651 ) <ckratsch@gmai l . c om> on Thursday April 19, 2007 @12:57PM (#18801307)
    So HP is getting into the market that Canon and Xerox and Lexmark and Toshiba and Kyocera and Sharp and and and are already in? I suppose the interesting deal is that HP would be doing the printer leasing direct from the factory instead of having a local leasing and servicing middleman do it. But it's not like the business model is revolutionary.
  • by fullmetal55 ( 698310 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @01:30PM (#18801957)
    I really don't understand the objection to this. Anyone who works with printers these days knows that this is already a standard business model for companies like Xerox, Minolta, etc. who sell laser printer/scanner/copiers and charge per page. the per page cost usually includes toner, maintenance, service, and it's usually very reasonable. I've seen per page contracts as low as .3 cents a page. HP finally caught up with the bandwagon. and is trying to jump on. This isn't new, this isn't revolutionary, the only thing revolutionary about this printer is the method of printing. which i don't know if it will have a big market. It'd have to be competitive to our colour laser Minolta... in both price and performance/quality.
  • by AaronPSU777 ( 938553 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @02:34PM (#18802885)
    "Edgeline technology is said to be so ink-efficient that if HP were to sell these printers, they would never match the money they make from consumables (cartridges etc) now."

    Got a link for this? I fail to see how an ink-efficient printer would affect their current business model. If anything it would improve their margins. Let's say the edgeline uses 50% less ink than other printers, simply put 50% less ink in the edgeline cartridges and charge the same price for them, problem solved.

    I think we're all aware that current pricing structures for printer cartridges is a joke, it has little or no basis in what the cartridges actually cost to manufacture, so it's not like an edgeline printer would be some disruptive force in the marketplace.
  • Why? Simple (Score:4, Informative)

    by Master of Transhuman ( 597628 ) on Thursday April 19, 2007 @09:07PM (#18807551) Homepage
    The OfficeJet 6310 has SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY MEGABYTES of support software for it. It installs a DOZEN or more drivers on your machine, some of which appear to PORT SCAN the ENTIRE PORT RANGE OVER AND OVER, with others that will peg your CPU at 100%.

    Obviously this new line of HP junk has so much crap associated with it that it can't even fit on a DVD, so they have to sell it as a managed service since no ordinary IT user could possibly control this POS.

    I can no longer recommend HP to anyone. Buy Epson, folks. HP is done. Put a fork in it.

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