Eastman Kodak introduced a line of desktop printers on Tuesday that use low-cost replacement ink cartridges, entering a market dominated by Hewlett-Packard.
Kodak will start sales in March of 3 EasyShare All-in-One printers, ranging from $150 to $300, which will print, scan and copy document and photos. Black replacement ink cartridges will sell for about $10, and color cartridges for about $15, about 50 percent less than its rivals, Kodak said, adding that it will profit on sales of both printers and ink.
Kodak said this strategy is meant to disrupt the market dominated by HP, Canon and Lexmark, where inexpensive printers are sold at a loss, and profits are earned over the long term in sales of replacement ink cartridges.
Each Kodak ink cartridge prints more pages than a comparably priced rival cartridge, the company says.
They’ve already locked a deal for an introductory exclusive with Best Buy — to be followed by everyone else in the world.
Bring on the price wars!
My next printer will be a Kodak!
Cool, hope they do the same thing for laser printers next!
It’s about time that Kodak got back into the game. The printer business model has been controlled by a few players and needs to be shaken up. Now we need a new business model for the PC/OS market….
Good! Hope their printers are as nice as their cameras.
Thanks, John… I purchased the Kodak for my wife you suggested back before Christmas. It is everything (and more) you said it would be.
I must give kudos to Kodak for turning things around. For years they were the dumbest smart company around.
Kodak LOL, They pulled out of the Pro digital camera market to
re invent the film.
Oh geesse.
This will be awesome, paying 9.99 / 14.99 per cartridge instead of three times that price (not 50% less, more like 75%).
I’ve been recommending Epson for years, as they are the most cost-effective with their tiny, but easy to find cheap replacements, cartridges.
Also the Kodak digital cameras, keeping with AA batteries, smart move.
Have a Canon digital camera, never again – because of the non-standard battery pack. Great product, lousy batteries. Had to buy an extra one at 89$, and with two, have less life than 4x 1800ma’s AA.
I personally have not owned a printer in years, because when I compare cost to quality of a home solution against printing pictures at a store, or using the printer at work, I don’t see a reason for purchase.
I’ll take a look at these Kodak printers… maybe they’ll change my mind.
One question: Why has the 2 1/2 inch LCD become so popular on home printers? I already have a screen I can’t see anything with on the back of my camera… why do I need another one on the printer?
James, so that you don’t have to have your computer turned on to select & print from your memory card.
The All-In-Ones that don’t have a screen, you can print a contact sheet(s) from the memory cards, then you can put an X in the box of the pics you want on the contact sheet, and scan that, then print to your 4×6.
So no screen required.
The built-in LCD allows you to not print that contact sheet / menu.
Cheap color lasers are now penetrating the mid-range markets. While not photo quality they handle many other chores at a much cheaper per page cost.
As a laser printer technician, how are you guys gonna feel when these cheap printers break and cant be fixed for less than replacement costs. As I deal with this scenario daily, I am wondering how everyone here generally feels about these “disposable” printers. I for one thinks it sucks, and take a lot of heat from clients, but of course I am losing business to this model.
#13, Very good point. I, however, have never had a mechanical problem with any ink jet printer I have either owned or used at work. I have had trouble with ink several times though.
The mid range lasers I’ve seen can print color pictures. They are a far cry from what a good photo ink jet can do, but acceptable. They are also much more expensive then any home application would justify.
To #13, it seems like you should be proactive and look for a better trade…
One could argue that your trade is under attack from both cheaper printers ($80 for a 20ppm b/w laser) and (the largely promised but maybe this year finally delivered) electronic ink.
While this all sounds good, I’d like to see how many pages you could get out of these cheap cartridges. If there are half the price of an Epson/Canon/HP cartridge, but print less than half the amount of those products … well it would be more expensive to run the Kodak.
Does Kodak release any cost per page information, and how it is calculated?
15. What I do is more for large business than the typical home user, but still, filling up the landfills with disposable electronics IS becoming a huge problem. Besides, we are the only thing standing between you and that support call to India, enjoy.
Kodak’s website for the launch of the new printer is http://www.inkisit.com
Check out the videos their great….