Results of the recent BMI-T SA Annual Desktop Printer Report revealed that MINOLTA-QMS leads the South African colour laser printer market with a 32.1% share. A massive increase in unit sales and the introduction of cutting-edge new products should boost market share even further.
MINOLTA-QMS laser division product manager, Zarius Jordan, says the colour laser printer market has catapulted in the last six months, with unit sales increasing by more than 320% in this period.
"Market perceptions have traditionally classed colour laser printers as expensive, but the total cost of ownership has decreased considerably because of higher yields on toner cartridges and revolutionary advances in technology. A colour print on one of our laser printers costs more than 50% less, in comparison to a print on an average inkjet printer.
"Another major difference lies in the monthly duty cycle (the maximum number of pages per month the manufacturer recommends). High-end inkjet printers generally offer a maximum of 20 000 pages per month, while the Magicolor series is capable of 35 000 pages per month. The lifecycle of an inkjet printer is also considerably lower, handling an output of only 150 000 pages in comparison to 700 000 pages from a laser printer. In addition, the market is recognising the distinct difference in quality between laser and inkjet technology," says Jordan.
In anticipation of greater demand for colour laser printers, MINOLTA-QMS has expanded its product line to include the Magicolor 3100N, which introduces a breakthrough in colour laser printer technology.
The Magicolor 3100 Print System is the first desktop laser printer to use a single-pass engine and combines MINOLTA-QMS Crown controller technology with an innovative new tandem laser print method called PrismLaser technology, which delivers up to 16 laser quality pages per minute in both full colour or black and white.
"To date, colour laser prints have been delivered at a slower speeds than black and white prints off the same machine. With MINOLTA-QMS` PrismLaser technology, the printer can print cyan, magenta, yellow and black toner simultaneously, delivering colour prints at the same speed as black and white pages.
"This means colour users no longer need to compromise on speed for quality prints, or compromise on quality for faster print speeds," says Jordan.
The Magicolor 3100N uses MINOLTA-QMS Crown controller technology, which brings the benefit of an auto-sensing Ethernet network interface, and supports multiple printer languages simultaneously.
"This cutting-edge technology allows the Magicolor 3100N to service diverse network environments and makes it one of the fastest desktop colour laser printers available today," says Jordan.
Ideal for users printing more than 2 000 pages per month, the Magicolor 3100N offers standard 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution, standard features such as networking, 256MB memory, automatic duplexer and low running costs, and will be available to the market in February 2002.
Share
Editorial contacts