Monday, 21 April 2008
Best Buy Dumps Lexmark's Ink Jet Printers
« Beshear's First Legislative Session A Failure | Main | Beshear and Partisan Politics »Best Buy recently announced that they were no longer going to sell Lexmark printers in its stores.
Best Buy is no longer selling Lexmark printers in its 1,200-plus stores, dealing a blow, some say, to the Lexington-based company's plan to revive its struggling inkjet brand by focusing on tech-savvy people who print more.
Lexmark has prominently pushed its lineup of wireless inkjet printers at stores, trying to shed its dependence on low-end printers whose owners don't use enough ink -- a printer company's key profit driver.
"It's a disturbing sign for the future of inkjet," said Tom Carpenter, vice president and senior equity analyst at Hilliard Lyons in Louisville, noting the company also has a limited presence in Staples stores.
Lexmark has boasted in recent months about the popularity of its wireless inkjet printers, telling investors it held 30 percent of the domestic market for the products in December.
Personally, I think Lexmark should stop wasting resources on ink jet printers. It is a dead technology. Why would anyone buy an ink jet printer? The ink is expensive and drys up if not used. There is no cheap alternative for refilling cartridges and the quality of printing on regular paper is poor. The only printer that makes sense to buy is a laser printer. The quality of print outs is superior and toner doesn't dry up from lack of use. The cost of new printer cartridge might be more, but the frequency of refills is considerably less.
What about those people wanting to print photographs? Why would anyone print their own photos? You have to pay for expensive paper and the expensive ink. It is just as expensive to upload one's pictures to a web site like Shutterfly and have them develop the images. Or if you are in a hurry you could take them into Walmart and print them there.
Besides printing their are numerous sites that allow one to upload pictures and have on-line photo galleries. What easier way to "carry" around one's pictures than to have the always available on-line. I imagine the future will also bring about more digital picture frames that can display hudreds of digital pictures.
With all of the options available, the need for ink jet printers have passed. Lexmark should embrace the future and stop wasting money on a dead technology.
