Kodak Pulls the Plug on Printing Oct 02, 2012 10:48 by Huw Carrington
As a business, Kodak have been going for a long time now, but they only really got into the printer game, after a few early forays in home photo printing, about three years ago when they came out with the ESP range. These machines were produced with cheaper total ink costs in mind, and thousands of home users switched to them at this promise. We’ve looked at how much the ink really costs before , but that’s not what we’re writing about today.
Back in January, we told you about Kodak bringing in a team of specialists to help them file for bankruptcy – a dwindling market share, and slimmer profits, have led to this period of difficulty for them. At the time there were some expectations that they might stay afloat by their relatively new inkjet printer production.
This, it would seem, was unfounded. At the weekend it was revealed that they intend on abandoning this branch of the firm, moving out of the desktop printer market, sometime in 2013 in a further downsizing. For those of you with one of their printers, don’t worry though – due to the substantially higher profit margins involved in the ink compared to the hardware itself, they have no intention of stopping selling the consumables just yet.
Only a little more than a month ago we wrote a similar story about Lexmark planning to exit the market in much the same way. It’s a little bit ironic that at the time they gave Kodak’s growing share of the market in Europe as one of the causes behind their move, only for their competitor to leave in much the same way now.
So, with two household names pulling out, where does that leave things? Maybe they’re the first of many, and the next big brand will be hot on their heels, or perhaps, with a little more wriggle room and less competition, the remaining companies, HP, Canon, Epson, will stretch out and fill the vacuum left behind.
What do you think? Worried about that will leave things? Or just happy to see them go? Leave us a comment, and share your thoughts with the rest of the community.
I think it is a great shame that Kodak is pulling out of printing. They are the first brand that comes to mind when I think about printing or cartridges and I have been purchasing their products for years now.
I suppose it’s just another step in the road to a paperless office
Kathy Blackmore |
Hi Kathy,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I think in this instance it is a function of the fact that Kodak are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and have got to make some fundamental business decisions about which way their business is going in the future. Unfortunately it looks like inkjet printers are not the way forward, and they have been joined by Lexmark who have made a similar decision over the past month or so
With Kodak going out of the game, who do you think will be crowned new printer king? I’ve got a wireless Kodak printer (purchased for the low cartridge price). Now I’m bummed it’s all for nothing if Kodak ink cartridges go the way of the buffalo!
Hi Jamie
I gather that although Kodak are quitting the printer side of their business, they intend on continuing to produce the inks for existing models for the foreseeable future, so your current machine should be alright, for the time being at least. Hopefully one of the other big names will enter a printer with genuinely cheap inks into the market soon.
Kind regards
Huw
Hopefully this will mean that we will generally have cheaper ink, with other competitors now having the opportunity to control the market and not have to compete on prices with the biggest printing player.
Or it could in fact have to opposite effect with companies not having to under cut Kodak in price to ensure market share, they might now bump their prices up.
I sincerely hope not!
Kind Regards,
Jimmy Jones
Hi Jimmy
I’m not sure what difference it will make, as it could go either way, but I will be watching with curiosity – like you, I hope that prices will come down, but I won’t be holding my breath!
Kind regards
Huw