Jon Pepper
Multifunction peripherals (MFPs) seemed like a pretty good idea when they first hit the market, but initial reaction from customers was tepid. One reason: These products, which are designed to do many different things (e.g., print, scan, fax, and copy), often didn't do any one function all that well. "There were always some limitations in these products," contends Charles LeCompte, principal at Lyra Research (Newtonville, MA), a market-research firm.
But now vendors are releasing improved MFPs that better target individual markets. And Andrew Johnson, senior industry analyst at market-research firm Dataquest (San Jose, CA), predicts that MFP sales will increase as vendors unleash better products with improved software integration and more intuitive user interfaces (see
the figure
"U.S. MFP Products Shipment Forecast"
).
Two examples of new and improved MFPs are Hewlett-Packard's (800-752-0900;
http://www.hp.com
) new products, the OfficeJet 500C series and the OfficeJet Pro 1150C. What sets them apart from previous products? In addition to a name change to "all-in-one" (HP prefers it over the term
MFP
), color is now considered a basic feature instead of a rare option. HP has also improved the ease of use and overall quality of each individual function while increasing overall speed. The previous OfficeJet 300 series of devices printed at a rated speed of 3 ppm (in black and white), compared to the 1150C's rated 8 ppm for black and white, and 4 ppm for color (at 600 by 300 dpi).
The OfficeJet 500C series ($499 an
d up) and Pro 1150C ($999) are tailored for different markets. The 500C is geared more for the home: It lacks support for color copying (although it can print in color) and has a fax component, whereas the 1150C lacks faxing capabilities. (HP says its research indicates that, unlike homes, many businesses already have a fax and don't want another, so the company left this feature out of the 1150C.) Each product has OCR and other software and connects directly to your PC, although you can use the 1150C's copier in stand-alone mode.
Canon (516-488-6700;
http://www.usa.canon.com
) also has a
new MFP
, the CFX-L4500 IF. This $1695 unit also attaches directly to a PC and includes a 4-ppm black-and-white laser printer, Windows management software, a 14.4-Kbps modem for faxing, and other feature
s. Canon and other vendors also offer more expensive units for the enterprise. For example, Canon's GP200 starts at $6000 for its color-copier capabilities.
Although analysts believe these new products are an improvement, it remains to be seen whether HP's new units and new entries from Brother, Canon, Panasonic, Samsung, Xerox, and others will be enough to make this category take off. LeCompte says that many businesses that already have a fax or printer will buy peripherals modularly, or separately.
Dataquest's Johnson predicts MFPs will battle copiers and network printers for output-volume responsibilities in small- to mid-size companies or departments.
illustration_link (34 Kbytes)
The personal color category will drive increased MFP sales.
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Canon's new MFP includes a black-and-white laser printer.
Multifunction Peripherals Get Better
