Different Way to Slice the Market
All the manufacturers, industry analysts and press like to look at the MFP market in segments such as tabloid vs. letter, monochrome vs. color, or ink jet vs. laser - with or without solutions. This clearly reflects our organization and how we look at hardware products based on what it takes to develop and manufacture them. But, it reflects little on how the customers ultimately use the machines. I would propose that: few tabloid products are purchased primarily for the tabloid capability; most every customer prints in both monochrome and color whether it is on the same unit or separate; few end users care what the marking technology is; and all customers tend to look at the total functionality of their product whether it is software that has been there for years (for example Postscript) or something newly developed and added with the product in the form of a software solution.
In 2008, we need to move more aggressively towards looking at the market relative to what customers really do with the products. Tracking between distributed capabilities vs. centralized, scanning applications vs. printing, total color pages vs. monochrome pages - independent of the device are all starters. While I’m at it, dividing up the market by price band is much more relevant to the customers than speed bands.
Dave Bates
Vice President, Product Marketing
Xerox Office Group