Epson releases business inkjet printer in India

Epson announced the launch of the EPSON Stylus™ C110 single function printer. The new business inkjet is aimed specifically at business-users who need the high print speed and crisp black text quality of laser printers, but demand the affordability, accurate colour qualities and paper-type flexibility of inkjet printers.
Best value business proposition

“Laser printers are popular because of their high print speed, precision printouts for monochrome text, and high page yields – that are important for the modern business environment,” said Mr Ram Prasad, Business Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India. “However, for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprise) and SOHOs (Small Office Home Office), buying and operating laser printers also represent a hefty cost in terms of initial purchase, toner replacements, and energy consumption.”

He added, “On the other hand, inkjets are looked upon for their ability to produce life-like colours and efficient operating cost. Taking these into consideration, the EPSON Stylus™ C110 inkjet printer incorporates the best about laser printers at the attractive price of an affordable inkjet, thus offering the perfect value proposition to users with medium* print volume.”

Better prints and faster than an average laser printer!

Housed in an elegant black and silver case, the EPSON Stylus™ C110 boasts features and performance that match typical monochrome laser printers. The new inkjet zooms through black text prints at 25 ppm (pages per minute) in quality print mode, or at an incredible 37 ppm in draft mode, all without the long warm up delay apparent in laser printers. A4 colour prints are accomplished at speeds of 11ppm while draft 4R photos can be printed in as little as 49 seconds. Furthermore, utilising the new improved DURABrite Ultra inks ensure razor sharp text quality prints similar to the quality monochrome laser printers can produce.

Specific to the increasing need for colour printouts, users can now enjoy a glossy photo finish possible only on inkjet systems. Using the new improved DURABrite Ultra inks, users can expect the prints so durable that they last a lifetime. What’s more, only DURABrite Ultra inks can offer the combination of amazing fade, smudge and water resistance qualities needed in business environments.

Another unbeatable feature of using inkjets is the ability to print on a wide array of media including photo paper, photo stickers and CD sleeves while laser printers are normally limited to plain paper and envelopes

Epson strikes back as Ink Sales suffer

Epson strikes back at Calidad inks as Ink Sales suffer

"Tests show Calidad inks not suitable for printing photographs" screamed the headline from an Epson press release.Third party ink suppliers are estimated to be at approximately 30% of after market ink cartridge sales, printer manufacturers like Epson are waging a PR war against cut price competitors.

Razor Blade Model

As most consumers of inkjet printers probably know, printing manufacturers like Epson, Lexmark, HP, Canon that most inkjets now sold are more or less disposable products retailing at ridiculously low prices where they recoup their costs woth overpriced inkjet cartridges. Similar things are happening in the emerging color laser printer space.

3rd Part Inks Thrive

There is a healthy and growing market for third party ink suppliers which sell replacement ink cartridges significantly below the prices of OEM cartridges. This has the effect of eating into the after market ink sales of printing manufacturers and it also lengthens the printer replacement cycle as consumers will tend to keep printers longer if they can source reasonably priced ink refills.

Political Wars

Faced with a challenge to their business models by third party after market ink sales, OEM suppliers are becoming more aggressive in their anti-third party rhetoric.Epson warned against the use of third party inks in its printers with the release of "independent test results" which purport to show that one of Australia and New Zealand's best known third-party ink brands, Calidad, has one of the poorest results for print life ever measured.

Epson Claims

"The Calidad ink cartridges appear to contain low-stability dye-based substitutes for Epson high-stability DURABrite pigment inks. The Calidad inks have poor resistance to atmospheric ozone that may be present in homes and offices, and the Calidad inks also give up waterfastness when printed on plain paper," Mr Wilhelm said.

"When Epson users see these results they should be in no doubt that using third party inks in their Epson printers will lead to rapid fading and loss of their precious photographs," Epson's Marketing Communications Director, Mike Pleasants said.

"I am sure that no parents would want to give or receive as a gift a framed photograph of treasured children, friends or relatives, or that special occasion, that can suffer significant fading in less than a year," Pleasants said.

3rd Party Manufacturers fight back

Despite the claims from Epson, however, the third party market has hit back with its own report which refutes any suggestions that third party ink products are inferior to the more expensive OEM products.

A new survey by Lyra Research and published in Recharger Magazine revealed that

48% of respondents who had used non-OEM supplies said that they have never had a problem with a non-printer-brand cartridge.
6% have had many problems, defined as more than 10 percent of the time, and
44% have had “just a few problems,” defined as less than 10% of the time.

Overall, 93% of color laser printer users and 92% of color inkjet users said they either have had no problems with aftermarket cartridges or have had “just a few” problems, according to the survey.