The future is in colour

The rapidly growing Middle East is a huge market for the biggest names in the printers and copiers industry.

The global printer and copier market is expected to generate revenue of $62.6 billion by 2010.

In fact, the worldwide shipments of printers, copiers and flatbed multifunction products will grow to nearly 149 million units in 2009, a five per cent compound annual growth, according to Gartner, a leading information technology research and advisory company.

Though the UAE market for printers and copiers does not boast such grand figures, it is a growing market with enormous potential. "The UAE market embraces new technology very quickly and sets the trend for the rest of the region. Apart from being a huge revenue driver, it is also a reliable measure on how a product will perform in other markets in the Middle East," says Ranjit S. Gurkar, General Manager, Brother Gulf.

The Middle East market is developing rapidly and is an important territory for vendors. "The copiers market has potential, but due to the vendors and manufacturers offerings, a notable decline is taking place. A majority of the copier products in the market are currently copier based MFPs (with scanning, printing or fax capabilities), hence the portfolio of single function copiers is much more limited compared to the previous years," says Naser Shashaa, Research Manager, IHD Group MEA.

SoHo

Research by IDC shows that MFPs (multi-function printers) are taking over a lion-sized share of single function printers and copiers in the Middle East region, as many end-users prefer to consolidate their hardware and benefit from the space saved.

"This trend is currently evident in the SoHo (Small Office-Home-Office) and home users with the inkjet-based MFPs, but in the long run, this is expected to grow further in other consumer segments, and especially SMBs (small and medium businesses) in the short run," says Shashaa.

Printing isn't as popular as it once was – it's even more popular.

The paperless office predicted a few years ago hasn't happened – the number of pages being printed is rising not falling. Businesses feel the need to communicate and promote through print more than ever.

"But the way businesses are printing is changing. Colour printing in-house is increasing in popularity as the cost of colour reproduction falls. Businesses are beginning to realise that they can now achieve professional-looking results without having to outsource, or spend a large amount of money. Consequently, SMBs are now demanding a high degree of quality and productivity from their printers," says Amr Hassan, General Manager, Imaging and Printing Group, HP Middle East.

The new market for colour printing is immense — micro enterprises (one to nine employees) represent 72.1 per cent of enterprises in the Middle East, while small businesses as a whole ( one to 99 employees) represent 93.4 per cent. "It's incredibly important for these businesses to be able to differentiate from the competition. They need high performance, fast, flexible printing products that are as good at creating slick, colourful marketing collateral as they are at carrying out everyday black and white printing – and they need them to be cost-effective. Businesses of all sizes say that colour printing plays a pivotal role in business," says Hassan, "previously most small businesses had no option but to outsource their colour print requirements – today we are seeing the trend reverse with businesses in-sourcing their colour print requirements, saving both time and money."

According to Khalil El-Dalu, General Manager, Epson Middle East, the current trend in the printers and copiers market veers towards additional features, enhanced compatibility, and higher cost savings.

"In the market we have also noticed a demand for laser technology multi-function, as it provides lower ownership cost and a reduced time in printing and copying documents," says El-Dalu.

Epson's sales performance increased by 17 per cent in 2006 over the previous year and is expected to improve by 30 per cent this year.

"We also expect the ratio for multi-function and single function printer sales to increase to 6:4 compared to the previous year's 5:5," he says.

Digital technology has combined copying, printing, faxing and scanning in to a single device. "These devices have changed the office landscape with high productivity and lower total cost of ownership," says Pradeep Kumar, Regional Manager, Electronic Imaging Division, Toshiba Gulf Free Zone. The advantages of digitisation include convenience, asset consolidation and space saving. "Over the years, as customers have realised the reliability of these products, there is a definite shift from single function devices to multi-function devices," says Belal-el Banna, marketing manager, Xerox Emirates.

Future is colour

Digital copiers offer similar functions at almost the same price, cost less to maintain and are quieter to operate. "They also have combined printing, scanning and faxing functionalities, which further eliminates the need for analog machines, and manufacturers nowadays produce only digital copiers," says Gurkar of Brother Gulf.

Experts agree that the future of printers and copiers lies in colour devices. "Colour printing is rapidly becoming a business-critical tool for customers — and the number of colour pages printed on Xerox devices has doubled in the past two years. Many of today's businesses are re-evaluating their office document capabilities and their goal is to get the most value from fewer resources.

One of the best ways to accomplish this is by using colour. Colour represents the single most efficient and effective way to increase the availability of knowledge and communicate it across the workplace or to a customer. Therefore understanding the value of colour is essential when considering office technology upgrades," says Belal El Banna, Marketing Manager, Xerox Emirates.

Colour models

As numerous studies have shown, colour documents are more effective than their black-and-white counterparts. Colour provides powerful instant visual recognition that transcends text and is increasingly being considered a requirement rather than an option for many business applications.

"The current trend is going towards the direction of colour. Many manufacturers are now focusing on building up a full range of low-and high-end colour models," says Kumar of Toshiba.

As the printer and copier industry evolves, new technologies are emerging which promise to revolutionise the market.

Security and network

"We are currently seeing increased investment in machines, network capabilities, user-friendly menus and enhanced security options for workgroups. Unfortunately, the introduction of leasing and outsourcing has not got the expected response. The most evident trend however, is the total solution offerings of vendors and manufacturers rather than the mere sale of hardware. What this implies is that manufacturers are trying to sell the machine, along with accompanying software that facilitates the document management, user privileges, security and network capabilities," says Shashaa of IHD.

LATEST PRODUCTS
New printers and copiers in the market

- The HP Officejet Pro K5400 colour printer series is the world's fastest desktop printer, delivering faster speeds than most colour laser printers with savings of up to 25 per cent per page.

- Epson's five new products are the RX 590, RX 640, CX5900, CX 4900 and CX3900.

- Xerox's popular models are the Xerox WorkCentre PE220, WC 4118, WorkCentre M20i and the WorkCentre M118i. The mid range includes the WorkCentre 123/128/133 and the WorkCentre Pro 232/238/245/255. The high-end models are the WorkCentre Pro 265/275 and the Xerox 4110.