What are the common issues that consumers face with inkjets?
Primarily, it’s awareness about the operating cost amongst consumers. If the vendor is not educating the consumer about the cost of cartridges, he will be misguided. That’s the reason why people really go for refills and all.
The vendor wants to sell a box, not actually a solution. So consumers must ask and understand what is their cost of printing. If you look at quality, you need to pay for it. When you use a genuine cartridge, then only what we commit can be met. Most of the time consumers don’t get this input from the dealer. They buy the printer and the next time they go to buy the cartridge they wonder, “Oh my God, this is the cost of cartridges!”
How is it helping you to be present in both camera and printer spaces?
The inventions of digicam and printer are both connected because they protect our photography interest in the market. If you take a photo with a digicam and I am giving a lot of tools to print the photo, it makes a ‘wow’ factor. A lot of software for photo printing comes with Canon printers by default. It’s really helpful when you have the printer and camera of the same brand as they are designed to handshake. For instance, Canon camera understands the Canon printer and vice versa.
Your advice to printer buyers?
Keep three questions in mind: What am I going to print—am I going to print a B&W or colour photo, or Web logging, or do I have any specific complicated application? Do I have scanning or copying need also? Do I own a camera or not, or do I plan to buy one within the next six months?
Inkjet is better for colour printing. For copying and scanning even once in a while, it’s better to go for an MFP. If you have a digicam, buy a printer that is capable of photo printing. Also look at the capacity of cartridges that the company is offering. Many companies offer cartridges with only 3 or 5 ml. Anything above 8 ml is considered as the optimal capacity. If it’s 3 ml, very soon you will have to come back to buy the cartridge.
