Printacom has announced that the number of Oki colour printer users in the EMEA region has moved beyond the 1 million mark, following the news that Oki celebrated a record month in June with 16 000 colour laser units shipped to customers across the region.
"Our estimates show that there are roughly 250 000 Oki colour lasers deployed across the EMEA region," says Tony Lock, Senior Manager of Marketing and Sales: Colour Products at Oki Europe.
"Under the assumption that each of those colour lasers is serving four users on average, it`s safe to conclude that Oki colour laser printers now serve 1 million users in EMEA," Lock says.
"What`s more," Lock continues, "200 000 of those printers are based on the C5000 engine, which is renowned for its superior reliability, lower total cost of ownership and best in class price/performance. It`s clear that Oki was onto a winning product when a little under three years ago it launched the C5000 unit in Prague." "It`s not just in the EMEA region that colour printing is experiencing massive uptake, however. Right here in SA, we`re experiencing record growth in the colour laser segment," says Neil Rom, managing director of Printacom, Oki Printing Solutions` representative in SA.
"Local analyst firm BMI-TechKnowledge recently reported that colour made up 5.5% of the local laser printer market in 2003, and that figure grew to over 10% in the last year, representing a year-on-year growth of over 114% in colour laser technology.
"While BMI-T has predicted that the colour portion of the market will undergo another 50% growth spurt during 2005, constituting an increase in unit shipments from 12 000 units in 2004 to 18 000 units in 2005, my personal belief is that the market will in fact exceed this expectation by a rather large margin," Rom continues.
"Add to this, the new range of competition-killer units Oki recently introduced to the local market and it spells a good year ahead for the brand in SA.
"These results certainly prove that Oki printers are providing customers with what they need to get their jobs done, more professionally and efficiently. This has led to SA making a strong contribution to Oki reaching its goals and we expect to see a continued growth in the years to come," he concludes.
Share
Printacom, a member of the MB Technologies group of companies, is the sole importer and the leading value-added distributor of the Oki range of printers to the South African reseller channel.
Oki is ranked among the top three printer brands worldwide and is the only printer manufacturer that designs and develops its own components, putting Oki ahead of its competitors in terms of printing technology. Supported by the skills and services provided locally by Printacom, corporate companies are offered high-end internationally recognised business printing solutions.
More information about Printacom is available at http://www.printacom.co.za.
More information about Oki is available at http://www.oki.co.za.
Editorial contacts