Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a breakthrough new technology that has been five years and $1.4 billion in the making. The company has been losing market share recently, as rivals like Dell and Lexmark have been able to provide comparable printers at competitive prices. HP thinks its technology advantage will allow for demand of printers to double within the next ten years. Here’s what to know about the new technology:
HP refers to it as the “world’s fastest” boasting print times of 14 seconds for full 4×6 photos (current print time is around 30 seconds). This is HP’s fourth generation of print technology based on the manufacturing process called “photolithography.” In the past, the print heads, which fire ink onto the page, have had around 1,266 ink-delivering nozzles. The new technology has quite a few more, 3,900 nozzles to be exact, allowing for the ink to be fired more quickly and accurately.
HP also claims that this will allow for a substantial drop in ink prices, which will decrease the cost per photo to as little as 24 cents a photo. As this is below average retail rates, the idea is for consumers to find it more cost effective to print pictures within the comfort of their own home. Hence, HP’s hope for the market to double in size by 2010.
The HP Photosmart 8250 is the first model available that takes advantage of this new technology (priced at around $199). HP also claims that these new printers will be more user-friendly and more capable of printing pictures unattended. For additonal information, check out HP’s press release.
