PRINT.IT
3
Samsung acquisition
overshadows launch of
HP’s first PageWide A3
devices
News of HP’s acquisition of
Samsung Electronics for $1.05
billion has overshadowed the
launch of the company’s first,
and long awaited, PageWide
A3 inkjet MFPs and its new
range of A3 LaserJet toner
MFPs developed in conjunction
with Samsung.
After failing to crack the
$55 billion copier market
with its Edgeline (inkjet) and
Mopier (toner) A3 devices, HP
will be hoping to have more
success with its new products
and the streamlined channel
programmes it announced at
September’s HP Global Partner
Conference.
HP’s rationale for the
acquisition of Samsung, which
is expected to close within 12
months, was to ‘accelerate
the disruption’ of the copier
market. As Samsung, like HP, is
weak in the traditional copier
channel, despite having made
big strides in the last year or
so, HP’s appeal will rely heavily
on technical innovation.
Indeed, in its
announcement HP stated
that its aim is to ‘reinvent
and replace service-intensive
copiers with superior
multifunction printing’. As
we report on page 28, the
simplicity of Samsung’s MFP
design, also evident in HP’s
new devices, is one of its key
selling points.
With the largest print
acquisition in its history, HP
is not just gaining Samsung’s
product range. It is also
acquiring more than 6,500
printing patents and a global
workforce that includes
nearly 1,300 researchers and
engineers with expertise in
laser printer technology.
HP will have seen the
benefits of these resources at
first hand when working with
Samsung on the development
of its 16 new A3 MFPs. These
are claimed to provide world-
class print security across
devices, documents and data;
advanced monitoring based on
cloud and big-data analytics
to predict service and supply
needs; and affordable colour.
HP’s full portfolio of
A3 MFPs, including three
PageWide platforms and 13
LaserJet platforms with print
speeds ranging from 22 to
60 pages per minute, will be
launched next year (in Spring
and Autumn). They will be
available with a range of copier-
like finishing options, such as
in-cave stapler stacker, hole
punch, high capacity staple/
stack and booklet makers, and,
in HP’s eyes, uncopier-like fast
repair times.
Qualified channel partners
will also benefit from HP
Smart Device Services, a set
of free cloud tools and device-
based sensing capabilities
designed to minimise device
downtime, for example by
anticipating the need to
service parts before they fail
and by avoiding premature ink
and toner replacement.
For fans of HP’s PageWide
inkjet technology, which
combines fast printing speeds,
low energy consumption
and very low running costs,
the most interesting new
launches are the three A3
inkjet devices. Offering A3
output and print speeds of
40-60 ppm (up to 80 ppm in
General Office mode), these
will compete directly with
toner-based MFPs and enable
HP to offer a full range of
business inkjet devices from
the desktop to the corridor.
If HP can replicate in the
A3 market the success it has
had with PageWide in the A4
small workgroup sector, it
really could disrupt the copier
market, and it won’t need
Samsung’s resources to do so.
BULLETIN
bulletin
Go slow offices
The average UK office worker
wastes at least 21 days each
year due to slow or inefficient
technology, according to a new
study by Sharp. The biggest
time drains are searching for
files on a server (23 minutes
per day), waiting for a printer
to warm up (7 minutes) and
waiting for pages to be printed
(10 minutes).
A lifetime’s work
The average office worker
will receive 537,860 emails
during their working life and
print 343,504 pages. They will
also spend 13 minutes every
day searching for missing
paperwork and stationery.
Almost nine out of 10 office
workers surveyed by Avery
(85%) agree that having a
clear filing system makes their
job less stressful.
avery.co.uk/organiseyourlife.
Setting a bad example
Business leaders are the
worst offenders when it comes
to mismanaging sensitive
business information, claims
Iron Mountain, following
research showing that 57%
of CxOs and MDs have left
business-sensitive information
on the printer for all to see.
Almost half (43%) have
disposed of documents in an
insecure bin and 39% have left
information in a public place.
...in brief
