A photo printer is a type of inkjet
printer designed specially to print
high quality digital photos on
photo paper. Some photo printers
are equipped with digital media
readers to print pictures even with¬
out a PC.
In India, until 2004, the home
segment had not even begun to take
off, and vendors typically targetted
the studio lab segment. Industry
estimates place photo printer sales
at over 10 percent of inkJets sold in
India. Of course, the sale of digicams
is closely linked with photo printers,
along with accessories such as
cartridges and paper.
What to Expect in 2005
Ashwini Aggarwal, country market¬
ing manager (consumer), Imaging
and Printing Group, Hewlett
Packard India Sales, confirms that
HP will focus its photo printers for
the small and medium business segment this
year. Says he: "There are subtle differences
between camera prints and between those a
photo printer offers, but the gap is constantly
narrowing." HP is also targeting studios, where
photo printers have enabled faster processing of
passport size prints.
HP is also investing in marketing campaigns
to encourage its digicam customers to print their
photos at home or at work.
Epson is the latest entrant in the photo
printer market, and says that sales of photo
printers have been brisk (around 2000 a
month until December 2004). Suresh
Govindachari, senior business manager
(consumer products), Epson, admits that
photo printers will never complet
ely replace
ordinary camera prints. "But we are looking at
the more than one lakh photo studios in the
smaller, semi urban centres apart from the
city based studios. Habit conversion is key to
our campaign. People realise slowly that the
main advantage of photo printers is the
convenience factor prints are made available immediately, and the cost per print is much lower than camera prints."
He adds: "Colour restoration on old, faded prints is another major area where photo printers score. Many people have sentimental attachment towards old photographs. They want black and white prints converted to colour or blown up to bigger sizes."
Epson's flagship piece is the RX 630, which among other things can print directly from the negative or a digicam, memory card.
Canon's success in the photo printer segment has largely ridden the digicam handheld wave, and will continue that way this year. But they are slightly more bullish than Epson. "Soon," says Kumar Soni, assistant manager (product marketing), Canon, "all printers sold will be photo printers. Currently photo printers for the home segment are sold in the price range of Rs 8000 to Rs 25,000. Canon will also aggressively market high end photo printers for the business domain.
To increase public usage of its consumer products in India, Canon recently launched "Canon Digiphoto Zones," in collaboration with photo studios across the country. These zones would act as 'one stop shops' for instant processing of rolls, and as retail outlets for Canon products. Canon will be supplying these studios with digital cameras, film scanners photo printers and other related accessories.
Mumbai resident and amateur photographer Y P Kaushal recently purchased a Canon Pixma IP 3000, to "make bulk prints in the convenience of my home." Although it's not exactly cost effective for home users, photo printers score when it comes to ease of use, and saves the consumer a trip to the photo studio.
