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HP drives Web-enabled printers


Johannesburg, 06 Feb 2012

Tech giant, HP says consumerisation of the printing market is its key strategy, following the online content explosion and proliferation of tablet devices.

This is according to Fabrice Campoy, country manager for HP SA Imaging and Printing Group, who explains that the proliferation of mobile devices will fuel the printing industry and not restrict it in a way that e-books are impacting the publishing sector.

“What's interesting for HP, according to IDC, [is that] a tablet owner prints two times more than the average user. There will be 120 million tablet PCs sold by 2015. One billion devices will represent 60% of total hardware sold in 2015,” says Campoy.

He adds that another major trend HP is seeing is service-based business models, which are growing four times as fast as the hardware market. He believes that managed print services and the consumerisation of printing is key when targeting new markets.

According to Campoy, HP will this year focus on three key segments: to grow printing solutions and services; to grow adjacent markets; and to extend its core strategy to expand its installation base of printers.

“Last year alone, HP shipped more than 15 million Web-based printers, and the number of apps on HP ePrint is tripling every quarter. Our strategy of the HP ePrint centre being the platform for content distribution will be the future of printing. What HP is doing for printing is what Apple did for the music industry.”

HP ePrint Home and Biz is a mobile app based on Web-enabled printers that unlocks content for printing from mobile devices. Once the app is installed on the device, smartphone and tablet users can wirelessly print to any networkable or HP ePrinter.

The Nickelodeon children's app is the most popular app on HP's printing app market, according to Campoy. He says printing apps are presently very consumer-focused, as the early adopters tend to be consumers. He says HP will be expanding security-enabled printing apps to the corporate market.

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