Despite all the bad news we have been hearing about the hard copy market lately, hardware manufacturers have remained active. Last year, the industry witnessed plenty of important new product releases for office users. The year began with news of many new machines, and we then moved into a remarkably active summer. Product introductions reached a fevered pitch at the end of the year as scores of new hardware were unveiled.
While all the machines were not ground breaking, 2012 did witness some important new technologies including new engines from a number of vendors. Most traditional printer manufacturers released A3 hardware last year and copier makers had new A4 units as the ongoing trend of copiers moving into the printer space—and vice versa—continued.
New Year, New Products
Right from the start of 2012, hardware manufacturers were busy refreshing and expanding their product lines. HP announced three new A4 color laser families last January, replacing the Color LaserJet CP2025 printer family with the LaserJet Pro 400 color M451 line and the Color LaserJet CM2320 MFP series with the LaserJet Pro 300 color MFP M375 series. HP also added the LaserJet Pro 300 color M375 MFP series to its portfolio to broaden its selection of color A4 offerings. The printer maker would be back several more times in 2012 with additional new machines including some important new A3 MFPs at the end of the year.
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| Canon IR4025B | KM Bizhub C654 | Xerox 3320 | Brother HL5470DW | Samsung SCX8123NA |
In February, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. announced a pair of high-volume A3 color MFPs. The firm replaced the bizhub C652 with the new bizhub C654 while expanding the line with the bizhub C754. Toshiba America Business Solutions updated its lineup of A3 monochrome MFPs in February with nine new models ranging from an entry-level 20 ppm MFP to a high-volume 85-ppm device. The company announced the e-STUDIO206L, 256, 306, 356, and 456 on February 28, following the release of the higher-end e-STUDIO556, 656, 756, and 856 on February 14.
While Canon would release new machines throughout the year, the first quarter was its busiest. On March 12, Canon U.S.A. replaced its aging imageRUNNER 3425 line with the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4000 series. The new family of A3 monochrome MFPs included the 25-ppm imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4025, the 35-ppm imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4035, the 45-ppm imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4045, and the 51-ppm imageRUNNER ADVANCE 4051. On March 13, Canon announced new desktop monochrome laser hardware for “mid-volume office environments,” including the imageCLASS D1300 series of A4 monochrome laser MFPs, the imageCLASS LBP6670dn A4 monochrome laser printer, and the FAXPHONE L100. In April, Canon launched its new Color imageRUNNER LBP5280 A4 color laser printer, which was an addition to Canon’s color printer portfolio, and the firm replaced the imageRUNNER LBP3470 A4 monochrome printer with the imageRUNNER LBP3480.
Also in April, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. announced the bizhub 215, a low-end A3 monochrome MFP with print, copy, scan, and optional fax capabilities. Lexmark, too, grabbed headlines in April when it released a total of nine new color laser printers and MFPs. The C746n, C746dn, and C746dtn printers replaced the C734n, C734dn, and C734dtn and the C748e, C748de, and C748dte printers replaced the C736n, C736dn, and C736dtn. Lexmark also replaced the X736de, X738de, and X738dte color MFPs with the X746de, X748de, and X748dte.
Then in May, HP hosted a summit in Shanghai where it introduced new printers and MFPs along with new services and solutions. Altogether, the firm announced four new LaserJet families for businesses: the LaserJet Pro 400 M401 series of A4 monochrome laser printers, the LaserJet Pro 400 MFP M425 series of A4 monochrome MFPs, the LaserJet Enterprise 500 MFP M525 series of A4 monochrome MFPs, and the LaserJet Enterprise 500 Color MFP M575 series of A4 color laser MFPs. A few weeks later, Xerox announced the Phaser 3320, an A4 monochrome laser printer, and the WorkCentre 3315 and 3325, a pair of A4 monochrome MFPs, which single the start of a very active summer.
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| Toshiba eStudio2050C | Sharp MX6240N | Oki CX3535 | Lexmark CS410 | HP LaserJet Pro200 |
Gone are the Lazy Days of Summer
Hardware manufacturers dismissed the notion of the “lazy, hazy days of summer” last year and a number of important new machines hit the market. Brother International, for example, announced new A4 printers and MFPs for small workgroups and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in June. The new printers included the HL-5450DN, HL-5470DW, HL-5470DWT, HL-6180DW, and HL-6180DWT, while the new MFC-8710DW, MFC-8910DW, MFC-8950DW, and MFC-8950DWT represented Brother’s new MFPs. The new machines were noteworthy because they were based on a new homegrown laser engine from Brother, which I would expect we will see further leveraged this year.
In July, Dell announced its first new laser-based printer and MFPs since 2010. The new monochrome Dell machines were all based on Samsung technology and included the B1160, B1160w, and B1260dn A4 print-only units and the B1265dnf A4 monochrome laser MFP. The new color lasers featured Fuji Xerox engines and included the C3760n and C3760dn A4 color laser printers and the C3765dnf A4 color laser MFP.
Releasing an assortment of new A3 and A4 devices, Samsung’s July releases underscored the firm’s commitment to moving up market. The South Korean OEM is investing heavily to penetrate the more lucrative office segments, which are associated with high print volumes. Last summer, Samsung launched three new A3 color MFPs, the CLX-9201NA, CLX-9251NA, and CLX-9301NA, along with their monochrome counterparts, the SCX-8123NA and SCX-8128NA.
The firm also introduced its new CLP-365W, CLP-415NW, and CLP-680ND A4 color laser printers and the corresponding A4 color MFPs, the CLX-3305FW, CLX-4195FW, and CLX-6260 units.
Oki and Toshiba also made big announcements during the summer and indicate the two were expanding their strategic alliance. Oki Data Americas released the CX3535 and CX4545, which are the firm’s fastest A3 color MFPs to date. They are based on a Toshiba laser print engine and targeted at medium to large workgroups. The firm also upgraded and enlarged its selection of A4 workgroup monochrome MFPs with the new MB461, MB471, MB471w, and MB491 featuring OKI’s latest generation of LED technology. TABS introduced a new line of entry-level A3 color MFPs based on OKI LED print heads: the e-STUDIO2050c, 2550c, 2051c, and 2551c.
At its National Dealer meeting in mid-July, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America announced new high-volume, high-speed color and monochrome MFPs. The MX-6240N and MX-7040N, which Sharp calls its “Polaris Office” devices, are high-volume color MFPs/light production devices for offices, smaller central reproduction departments (CRDs), and copy rooms. The machines feature a new engine and replace the MX-6201N and MX-7001N, respectively. Dubbed the “Hercules II” line of mono machines, the new MX-M904, MX-M1054, and MX-M1204 are light production monochrome MFPs, which are based on an enhanced version of the Hercules engine. Sharp’s new “Big Iron” followed the release of the three new A3 monochrome MFPs: the MX-M264N, MX-M314N, and MX-M354N.
Various vendors released upgrades to existing print engines in the summer. In August, Canon U.S.A. announced five new A4-sized monochrome products for small-office/home-office (SOHO) customers based on the same basic engine that Canon debuted in 2010 in the imageCLASS MF4570dn. The new imageCLASS MF4770n, MF4880dw, and MF4890dw are four-function monochrome laser MFPs. The imageCLASS D530 is a copier-based MFP with copy, print, and scan functionality, and the FAXPHONE L190 is a monochrome laser-based fax machine, printer, and copier.
Like Canon, Ricoh Americas did not offer any new technology but it did announce a slew of new units last summer including the A3 monochrome Aficio MP 4002 and MP 5002 series and the A3 color Aficio MP C3002, MP C3502, MP C4502, and MP C5502 families as well as its new color Aficio MP C305 A4 color MFP and the monochrome MP 301SPF. At the end of August, Ricoh refreshed its lineup of high-speed A3 monochrome copiers and MFPs for the office with the release of the Aficio MP 6002, MP 7502, and MP 9002. At the lower end of the market, Ricoh released the Aficio SP 3500N and SP 3510DN A4 monochrome laser A4 printers and the Aficio SP 3500SF and SP 3510SF A4 monochrome MFPs. Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. launched the bizhub C224, C284, and C364 series of A3 color MFPs during the summer, which appear to be replacements for the bizhub C220, C280, and C360, respectively.
Ending With a Bang
Canon kicked the autumn off by introducing several new imageRUNNER ADVANCE monochrome and color MFPs for the office and light production environments. The new products included the imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5235, C5240, C5250, and C5255 A3 color MFPs for small- to mid-volume workgroups; the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 6255, 6265, and 6275 A3 monochrome MFPs for high-volume office environments; and the imageRUNNER ADVANCE 8285, 8295, and 8205 black-and-white light production devices.
OKI released a couple of interesting machines in October. The MB491+ LP is OKI’s first A4 monochrome LED MFP with a legal-size platen. It is designed for small to midsized workgroups in office environments that produce legal-sized documents, particularly within the government and education markets. The MB491+ LP is based on the same engine as OKI’s single-function B411 and B431. The firm also released the C711WT, an A4 color LED printer featuring a unique white toner along with traditional cyan, magenta, and yellow toners for printing on transfer media, which can then be applied to garments or items with harder surfaces such as mugs and acrylic products.
The two big releases of the fall season came in October came from the rival printer manufacturers HP and Lexmark. First, Lexmark released 15 new color laser printers and MFPs and an incredible 61 new mono printer and MFP configurations. The new CS310, CS410, and CS510 single-function color laser printers units replaced the C540 series, while the new CX310, CX410, and CX510 color MFPs replaced the X540 color laser MFP line. Lexmark’ new MS810, MS811, and MS812 monochrome laser printers replace the T65x printer family and the new MX710, MX711, MX810, MX811, and MX812 MFPs replace the X65x MFP line. The firm also replaced all of its entry-level A4 monochrome printers and MFPs with a long list of new hardware too lengthy to catalog here.
At the end of October, HP released two A4 color laser machines targeted at small workgroups. The LaserJet Pro 200 color MFP M276nw is a four-function MFP and the new LaserJet Pro 200 color M251nw is a single-function printer. HP also released the LaserJet Pro 500 color MFP M570dn, which is an A4 color print, copy, scan, fax MFP. HP bills its new LaserJet Enterprise flow MFP M525 and the LaserJet Enterprise color flow MFP M575c units as a new class of device designed especially designed for digitizing content. The machines feature the firm’s new HP Flow CM Professional and Enterprise content management solutions. In addition to the new A4 hardware, HP solidified its position in the A3 market with the release of the LaserJet Enterprise 700 M712 monochrome printer family and the LaserJet Enterprise 700 color MFP M775 line.
With all the new hardware, it seems vendors are anticipating an increase in demand. Unfortunately, sales from last year do not suggest any real recovery is at hand. Let’s hope that changes as we move through 2013.
