HP takes on Kodak in printer campaign

California electronics heavyweight HP and underdog Eastman Kodak Co. are in a marketing brawl.

Round One went to Kodak, which launched its All-in-One inkjet printer line in 2007, when it started comparing its printing cost per page to companies such as HP and Canon Inc. in a "Print and Prosper" advertising campaign.

Now, in Round Two, Hewlett-Packard is punching back with a marketing campaign of its own. HP cites its own statistics to claim that Kodak's savings fall short of what's promised and that Kodak has no printer cartridge recycling program.

The campaign also points out that users of an HP inkjet printer have to replace only one color cartridge when that color runs out, while the Kodak printers — which use an ink manufactured at Eastman Business Park — have all the color inks in one $15 cartridge, so if one color runs out, all the colors need replacing.

And HP takes a shot at Kodak by pointing out that Moody's, the credit rating agency, has said there is a chance Kodak could face bankruptcy while HP was recently lauded in Fortune magazine.

Kodak and HP have a tangled history. Kodak CEO Antonio M. Perez came to the company in 2001 after a long career as a Hewlett-Packard executive.

HP, meanwhile, is the king of the jungle in the desktop inkjet world, commanding close to 50 percent of the market worldwide, said Tom Ashley, director of digital printing consulting firm Pivotal Resources USA.
Kodak hopes to ship around 1 million All-in-One printers this year — which would represent perhaps 2 percent of the industry's sales.

The company's printers seem to have better penetration with people who do lots of high-end printing such as photographs, meaning more ink cartridges sold, Ashley said.
HP "is still the market leader, but it sounded like Kodak must be making real inroads if you feel obliged to knock them like that," Ashley said.

Kodak 2Q Profit Falls 14 Percent On Rising Material Costs

Rochester, NY (AHN) - Imaging giant Kodak said its second-quarter profits fell 14 percent as a tax refund and higher digital sales were unable to balance greater investments in inkjet printers and slumping film sales. The company earned $495 million, down from $581 million for the same period in 2007.

Kodak said sales rose slightly to $2.49 billion, up from $2.47 billion in 2007. The company received a $581 million tax refund during the second quarter. CEO Antonion Perez told reporters the company expects operational earnings between $400 million to $500 million for 2008.

The company also said profits from film were more than cut in half due to increased costs for oil, silver and other chemicals used in the business. Sales of consumer-based film dropped by 14 percent to $847 million, but film for the entertainment industry gained somewhat. Kodak recently spent $125 million to raise inkjet printer sales, including introducing a new consumer-oriented inkjet.

However, while traditional film was in decline, revenue from digital cameras, inkjet printers and electronic frames jumped 17 percent to $756 million.

Kodak offers Stream Inkjet Technology

In addition to continuous and drop-on-demand inkjet systems, Kodak will feature its Stream Inkjet Technology, which "will serve as the cornerstone of our future inkjet product line," Isidre Rosello, general manager of Kodak Graphic Communications Group's Inkjet Printing Solutions and vice president of Eastman Kodak Co., said in a statement.

Kodak Stream Inkjet Technology is a continuous inkjet system that the company claims "enables offset class reliability, productivity, cost and quality with the full benefits of digital printing for high-volume commercial applications."

It will bring continuous inkjet printing into commercial printers that want the benefits of variable data, short run, personalization or versioning on jobs ordinarily printed on offset presses, according to Kodak.

While full-color continuous inkjet technology has limited users to printing on uncoated paper with dye/water-based inks or higher-cost inkjet coated substrates, Stream Inkjet Technology, says Kodak, will print on both clay-coated and uncoated papers.Developed from scratch for high volume, the Stream Concept Press is being demonstrated at a resolution above 600 dpi at high speeds.

The Stream Concept printhead can deliver monochrome offset-class variable-data-printing applications at up to 1,000 feet per minute, demonstrating the technology's "potential for hybrid printing," according to Kodak.

The first product with the new technology is to be an easily operated and serviced four-inch printhead designed to produce a deep black at 600 dpi on glossy substrates.

Kodak says consumer printer program tracking plan

Kodak Sales exceed 500,000 units

NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Eastman Kodak Co.'s (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) chief financial officer said on Wednesday the photography company's consumer inkjet printing program is "going according to plan."
"We said at least 500,000 (units sold) in 2007. We haven't changed that message at all," said Frank Sklarsky, Kodak's CFO, during a presentation at the Citibank Global technology Conference in New York.

Kodak looking for $1 billion revenue by 2010

Kodak in April introduced a line of desktop printers that use low-cost replacement ink cartridges, entering a market dominated by Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research). It aims to increase the business to $1 billion in revenue by 2010.

Epson pushes single-ink cartridges

Epson pushes single-ink cartridges

Three and five-colour ink cartridges 'wasteful', according to research

Multi-ink cartridges waste more ink than single ink cartridges, according to research commissioned by printer manufacturer Epson.


Research shows single ink Cartridges Best

Research carried out by TUV Rhineland found a difference of 43 per cent between the two types of cartridge.

Single ink cartridges waste just under 19 per cent of ink as opposed to the 64 per cent wasted by some multi-ink cartridges.


Cartridge Weight doesn't lie..

The research involved testing printers with one, three and five colour ink cartridges from companies including HP, Canon and Kodak by printing a range of photographs until the “out of ink” warning appeared. The weight of the cartridge was taken before and after the tests to see how much ink each was left.

Kodaks 5 color cartridge printers end up being least efficient

Kodak’s Easyhare 5300 printer, which uses a five-colour cartridge system, was accused by Hartmut Muller-Gerbes, spokesman for TUV, as being the “worst performer of the test for ecological ink efficiency” wasting three-quarters (74 per cent) of its ink.

Epson's R360 single inkjet cartridge model and HP's Photosmart D7160, however, were only found to waste nine per cent and 17 per cent of ink respectively.

Three and five colour models were wasteful

Muller-Gerbes said three and five colour models were wasteful because if one colour runs out then the whole cartridge must be changed even if the other colours are untouched.

“Single ink cartridges have economical advantages in comparison to tri and five colour ones as the separate inks can be changed accordingly,” he said at an Epson press conference in Spain.

Environmental Concerns

He also pointed out that multi-ink cartridges could have a significant impact on the environment. “More and more multi-ink cartridges are being discarded as consumers listen to 'low ink' warnings and throw them away,” he said.

“Sustainability is important now with environmental concerns, TUV [therefore] expects manufactures to consider this and make their printers more economically friendly.”


Epson Study

Although Epson - who only supplies printers with single cartridge inkjet capabilities - has claimed this research was the “first of its kind” it is certainly not the first time the single versus multi inkjet cartridges debate has arisen.

Conclusion

Although Epson did not use the latest international standards for defining page print capabilities, their study remains valid in the context that it was performed. As most users do print using a particular color in a greater frequency than that of others it only goes to show that a multi color inkjet cartridge would be wasteful of ink. The international measurement test(s) are performed using a specific printout that doesn't take these potential color variations into consideration.

Need Cartridges Now, shop at Metawatch Inkjet Supplies

Office Depot To Sell Kodak Inkjet Printers

Rochester, N.Y. — Kodak expanded the distribution of its recently introduced inkjet printers last week, adding Office Depot.

The printers and related ink cartridges will be carried online and in all 1,170 Office Depot locations starting this month.

Kodak launched its new all-in-one printers exclusively with Best Buy. The CE chain will continue to sell the models, which are also available at Kodak.com.