HP launches printer range , extends reach to web surfers

NEW YORK: Hewlett-Packard (HP) has launched a range of printers and peripherals along with a $300-million marketing campaign as part of its plan to grab a bigger slice of the printing market share.

Speaking at the ‘Print 2.0’ strategy in New York recently, Vyomesh Joshi, EVP, imaging and printing group, said that HP wants to make printing from websites easier, which includes blogs and travel sites, and bring in new printing capabilities to online properties. “With Print 2.0, we are leveraging the power of the web as a gateway for our customers to communicate, collaborate and publish their content in ways they could not before,” said Mr Joshi.

He identified some key areas of focus for the Print 2.0 strategy; extend the company’s digital content creation — for example, Snapfish and Logoworks — across customer segments spanning from consumers to enterprises; and deliver a digital printing platform that increases print speeds and lowers the cost of printing for high-volume commercial markets.

Today, HP estimates 48% of print jobs, which come from web pages, as a big change from what it was five years ago. By 2010, HP expects the printing market to grow to 53 trillion digital pages annually, an opportunity valued at more than $296 billion. “That’s the opportunity we need to think about together as a partner, how can we capture more pages?” Mr Joshi said in a presentation at the launch event.