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| GartnerGroup's Dataquest Reports U.S. Color Printer Market Growing, but Vendors Must Educate Companies on the Benefits of Color Printing | |||
| San Jose, California, November 29, 1999 - Color printers are becoming more prevalent in the business market, but a recent survey by Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group, Inc. (NYSE: IT), shows that 62 percent of the businesses surveyed are still using color printers differently than monochrome printers, a fact that is impacting the acceptance of color as a widespread replacement for monochrome printers. | |||
| "There are still barriers to the acceptance of color in business such as the cost of acquisition, print speed of currently available color printers, print quality/durability and, increasingly, cost of operation," said Paula Bursley, senior industry analyst for Dataquest's Printers North America program. "One of the most significant barriers to color printing is that most users don't have a need to print most documents in color. These two elements - need and appropriate products - must come together for the widespread acceptance and use of color printers." | |||
| Hewlett-Packard was stated as the primary color printer vendor by slightly more than 80 percent of respondents, compared with almost 78 percent last year. Epson was the second-most popular color printer vendor, followed by Canon. | |||
| Dataquest analysts said vendors must develop strategies to educate the user base on the benefits of color printers. "Equally important, vendors must develop color printers that are competitively positioned against their monochrome counterparts and combat the market barriers," said Ms. Bursley. "Vendors wishing to continue to compete in the business printing marketplace will need to develop a complete portfolio of color printing solutions." | |||
| Almost 81 percent of the color printers at the sites surveyed were color ink jets. Approximately 16 percent of the color printers at the sites surveyed were color laser printers, up slightly from 13 percent in 1998. | |||
| "Color lasers are now much more aggressively priced and manufacturers have been working to address some of the barriers to acceptance like speed and paper handling capabilities," said Ms. Bursley. "This said, the complexity of the technology and cost of operation are still significant factors that are limiting larger growth." | |||
| Additional information on this market is available in the Dataquest User Wants and Needs report titled "To Print in Color or Not to Print in Color, That Is the Question." This report addresses usage patterns and buying behavior and user preferences and highlights the important issues relating to the purchase and use of color printers in commercial environments. | |||
| Dataquest's Printers North America program offers authoritative and timely insight into the dynamics driving markets for desktop, networked, and system printers. Additional information on this program is available on Dataquest's Web site at: http://www.dataquest.com/public/static/home/ourservices/scopes/n03prntna.html . | |||
| To purchase the report or subscribe to this program, please call 800-419-DATA, or 408-468-8009. More information about Dataquest's programs, descriptions of recent research reports and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://www.dataquest.com. | |||
| GartnerGroup's Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry. | |||
| GartnerGroup, the world's premier business technology advisor, provides unrivaled thought leadership for more than 9,000 client organizations worldwide. With 1999 revenues of $734 million, GartnerGroup was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with 80 locations worldwide. GartnerGroup's 3,400 associates including 1,200 research analysts and consultants, help clients achieve their business objectives through the intelligent and efficient use of information technology. For more information about GartnerGroup's industry-leading research capabilities, consulting and measurement services, and world-renowned symposia and events, please visit us on the Web at www.gartner.com. | |||
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