Brother Gulf showing colourful prospects across the Middle East

Dubai: Japanese firm Brother Gulf expects demand for colour laser printers and multifunctional products (MFPs) to grow rapidly across the region and is optimistic that this trend will continue in the coming years, said a top official.

"As the pioneer in the concept of MFPs, which is a trend that is catching on at an impressive pace, we are proud to announce that we have seen a 95 per cent jump in this segment of our business," Shinji Tada, Managing Director of Brother Gulf, said.

"Our aim is to leverage the outstanding growth prospects in the UAE and across the region by launching our newest MFP innovation, which we expect to bring forth excellent exposure for our latest products."

Quoting an IDC report, he said the UAE's inkjet segment has registered a 57 per cent growth in the second quarter of 2008 with small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), small office/home offices (SOHOs) and enterprise sectors acting as key contributors to the market's sustained growth.

"While the market grew 57 per cent we grew 87 per cent during the same period," said Tada. "Driven by the positive outlook on the growth trends of colour laser printers and MFPs in the region, we are continuously developing new technologies to incorporate more innovative and high-technology features to its latest products, which are highlighted at Gitex. We are using this event as a campaign to further drive its growth within the Middle East market."

New product

The company unveiled the world's first A3 colour inkjet MFP today. The move is a part of the company's plan to introduce 11 new colour inkjet printers - nine for the home and SOHO and two for the SMB segment this month.

In addition to inkjet, other segments have also recorded substantial growth in the UAE with mono MFPs registering 47 per cent growth and printers segment 19.6 per cent.

"Brother Gulf's sustained growth across various segments in the UAE market is a clear indication of the effectiveness of our efforts in generating consumer awareness and action," said Tada.

"We expect the market size of the colour inkjet MFPs to grow by 50 per cent, mono laser MFPs by 35 per cent and the colour laser MFP market by 200 per cent in next year in the UAE," Ranjit S. Gurkar, General Manager, Brother Gulf, said.

"Furthermore, we have also announced our plans to strengthen its regional operations in a bid to fuel its global revenue growth, with the Middle East contributing eight per cent to its worldwide earnings in 2007."