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Trigger Happy Digital Cameras Spawn Printer, Scanner Boom
By pune city, Section Development
The upwardly mobile Indians are clicking like never before. And they want to print them too. The do-it-all photography trend by one and all has taken the imaging and printing battle from enterprises to home and the small business space.
"People are increasingly using mobile phone cameras and digicams transmitting images across platforms... from digicams to computers to handhelds to printers," says MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta. Naturally, most imaging majors are stepping on each other's toes to offer the best bargain. In 2006, Canon alone rolled out a whopping 87 offerings in this segment. On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard launched 16 new models and others are still counting. "This lifestyle need is aptly being fuelled by affordability," adds Mehta. The price of entry-level all-inone printers (the device that has an in-built printer, scanner and a copier that gives you true-to-life colour photos as well as laser quality documents) has dipped by about 2430 per cent in the last 18 months.
"The all-in-one device that used to cost Rs 6,999 is available today for Rs 4,999. This, coupled with the strong traction in users wanting to do their own thing with printing, has brought the Indian market to a tipping point as far as printing is concerned," says Hewlett-Packard Country Category Manager Vibhor Bansal.
According to research firm IDC, the inkjet all-in-one segment is expected to grow from 4,40,000 units in 2006 to 7,34,000 units in 2007. The number of images captured went up from 45 billion in 2002 to 60 billion in 2003. This is estimated to have gone up to 155 billion in 2006. That directly beefs up the sale of printing and imaging devices. "For us, every click is an opportunity. And more the people play with the images, the merrier it is for us," says Canon India Director and GM (Consumer Imaging and Information Division and Volume Products) Alok Bhardawaj. Canon, which sold 8,000 units of inkjet multi functional devices in 2005, expects sales to jump 240 per cent in 2007 and touch 50,000 units. Companies are now looking at newer territories like schools and educational institutions. HP, for instance, is pegging the multi-purpose devices as a good educational partner for children to print their school projects, scan encyclopaedia and copy class notes. The pilot has already been initiated in select schools in Delhi. The other target audience in the SME sector. "The biggest challenge, however, is not to push more of these products into the market but encourage users to print, copy and scan more at home," says Bhardawaj.
(Source-Hindustan Times,11/01/07)
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