In January, Parts Now announced that it has become the “the initial distributor and reseller for Memjet-powered C6010 color printers in North America.” In addition to the machine, the company is also marketing ink tanks, print heads, and other parts for the C6010 as well as “Fill Your Own Systems” for refilling the ink tanks. Parts Now will also provide technical support, dealer training, and administrative dealer support
for the C6010 along with other services for its C6010 clients. The Parts Now alliance is part of a broader push by Memjet to market its desktop inkjet printers through dealer channels and support managed print services.
Like other Memjet machines, the C6010 is capable of delivering blisteringly fast print speeds thanks to the firm’s so-called “Waterfall” print heads, which are based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and fire millions of ink droplets each second. In the industrial and wide-format printer space, Memjet has successfully licensed the technology to a variety of larger hardware manufacturers including Delphax, Océ, and Xanté along with several smaller firms.
For office users, the computer giant Lenovo is marketing the RJ600N desktop color printer in Asia, which features Memjet technology, and LG Electronics is selling a similar machine, the Machjet LPP6010N, in South Korea. Lomond, the UK-based paper converter and third-party cartridge vendor, offers three desktop units with Memjet technology in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa including the Evojet Office and Evojet Office 2 printers and the Evojet Office Pro 310 all-in-one unit.
The new Memjet-powered C6010 is the first office device based on Memjet technology to be marketed in North America that I know of. Last April at the ITEX show in Las Vegas, the South Korean copier maker Sindoh demonstrated a desktop Memjet-based device that was slated for launch in the U.S. during the second half of last year. As far as I know, however, the Sindoh machine was not released in the U.S.
The C6010 is similar to other office machines selling worldwide based on Memjet technology. Like the machines from Lenovo, LG, and Lomond, the C6010 features a fixed, page-wide thermal print head with 70,400 nozzles that delivers up to 774 million drops per second. The C6010, which has a native resolution of 1,600 x 800 dpi, achieves prints speed of up 60 pages per minute in both full-color and black-and-white print modes. The machine has a recommended monthly duty cycle of between 1,000 and 4,000 pages. It accommodates a maximum of 270 sheets of paper and provides USB and Ethernet connectivity.
The C6010 employs a four-color, dye-based ink set. Based on MSRP for the individual ink tanks, the cost of a black and white page is at just over 2.8 cents and a color page costs a little more than 7 cents to print.
Breaking the Model?
The alliance with Parts Now marks a departure of sorts for Memjet. The company’s business model has always been that of a technology provider rather than an OEM. In the past, Memjet’s go-to-market strategy was to license its high-speed inkjet technology to firms, and the licensees would then market the hardware under their respective brands. What is different about the C6010 is that no other vendor is affixing its nameplate to the printer.
Memjet insists, nonetheless, that the machine is not its own, branded hardware. Shortly after the announcement, a spokesperson for the company explained to me, “The C6010 is an ‘open brand’ opportunity for U.S distributors and dealers. The printers will be ‘Powered by Memjet,’ not a ‘Memjet printer.’” According to Memjet, such an approach allows distributors and other channel partners to brand their offerings direct to consumer so they can continue to ‘own’ their customers from the outset. A company spokesperson told me, “Our focus for North America is on building a robust MPS channel … We believe MPS resellers are a good fit for our technology and business model.”
To preserve relationships with its current OEM partners, it is crucial that Memjet avoid being perceived as a printer manufacturer. The firm emphasizes, “We are not competing with our OEMs and have no plans to do so.” Memjet acknowledges that its office strategy is changing, however, to take advantage of the opportunity that managed print provides. According to a spokesperson for the firm, “For the office space, we are pivoting because the market is demanding that we do. As we all know, MPS is seeing massive growth, and we are taking strategic advantage of that opportunity. We are leading the charge. If anything, our efforts in the U.S. will catalyze the opportunity for OEMs in the U.S. market.”
Memjet partnership with Parts Now is an extension of its MPS strategy. Memjet seeks to leverage Parts Now’s reputation in the industry as a parts distributor and what Memjet calls its role as a “trusted advisor to many MPS dealers.” A representative for Memjet said that Parts Now’s position in the market “creates confidence around our new technology platform.” In addition to working with Parts Now to bolster its position in the MPS community, Memjet recently joined the Managed Print Services Association (MPSA), a North American trade association that supports OEMs and MPS providers as well as software developers and other firms marketing managed services.
It appears as if Memjet has begun to enjoy the fruits of its Parts Now alliance. Offtech New England, a printer and office-equipment and supplies dealer located in Westbrook, ME, is the first MPS dealer to place orders for the C6010 from Parts Now. More are expected to follow soon. According to a Memjet spokesperson, Parts Now already has “a number of customers for the C6010.” While I could not get any additional names other than Offtech at the time of this writing, Memjet says it may release referral customers after the initial launch and the first installs are in place.
HP at the Gate
Memjet’s C6010 may be on a collision course with a new line of machines from Hewlett-Packard. Last year, HP announced it would launch a line of high-speed inkjet printers and MFPs for office users and the machines are expected to hit the market soon. The Officejet Pro X line features a couple of units with faster print speeds (up to 70 ppm) than the C6010. Moreover, the HP units have an expanded feature set and automatic duplexing. Perhaps the most important feature of the Officejet X line is that its ink sets are full pigmented compared to the dye-based inks in the Memjet machines. Pigmented inks are more durable than dye-based inks, and document durability is big concern for office users.
The C6010 carries a hefty price tag, which may also be a disadvantage when it squares off against the Officejet Pro X units. The C6010 has an MSRP of $1,299, which is excessive for an inkjet machine. I suspect that the HP units will be priced closer to $500 when they hit the market. While not the best in class, the operating costs for the C6010 are decent, which should make the machine attractive to potential MPS customers currently using a workgroup color laser.
I should observe, however, that other inkjet machines are available that are cheaper to operate. For example, Epson’s single-function WorkForce Pro WP-4010, WP-4023, and WP-4090 have per-page cost of just over 1.5 cents for black-and-white documents and just under 6.8 cents for color jobs. Printing at only 16 pages per minute, the WP-4090 like the other Epson machines is much slower that the C6010, however, and may not be suitable for bundling in an MPS package.
Memjet suggests that the C6010’s MSRP may not be much of a factor in its pursuit of the MPS market. A spokesperson for the firm explains that the $1,299 is not a reference street price and so is not comparable to what a vendor like HP would use for its online pricing. Instead, the C6010’s pricing is more akin to a copier vendor’s MSRPs, “where reference street prices are difficult to come by and embedded in the deal-by-deal nature of the business. In these businesses, MSRP is a general guideline.” Because the ultimate strategy behind the marketing of the C6010 machines is to place the machines through MPS packages, MSRP probably will mean little. Presumably, no one will ever pay that price. However, such a high MSRP could cause sticker shock, if a potential customer only sees that price and does not hear an explanation behind it.
It remains to be seen how well the C6010 will do in the market. To offer it exclusively as an MPS SKU is interesting and Parts Now is uniquely qualified to market it. The high speeds and low operating costs the Memjet-powered printer offers makes it a good match for MPS applications and there is a lot of interest in the marketplace concerning Memjet machines.
I would expect that the C6010 will be popular with small office users looking for the low operating costs typically associated with higher-end devices. It would be premature to predict the ultimate fate of the C6010, however, until after HP’s Officejet Pro X machines hit the market. The two key questions are: will end users be attracted to a machine they can purchase out right or will they be happier gaining access to high-speed inkjet technology thorough an MPS contract?
