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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=568
HP: We''re all about the digital lifestyle
By ron carlson, Insanely Great Mac
June 25th 2002
The "digital hub" concept outlined by Steve Jobs last year is gaining currency
throughout the industry
HP has unveiled investments of $1.2 billion in its effort to refocus on the imaging
and printing market. Between now and early 2003, HP will roll out worldwide more than
50 new imaging and printing products offering consumers greater value and unparalleled
ease of use.
According to a company press release it has invested $900 million in manufacturing,
$125 million in R&D and $200 million in marketing to roll out the single largest
consumer product launch in the company''s history and drive digital imaging mainstream.
"This announcement marks a defining moment in the evolution of HP''s imaging and
printing business," said Carly Fiorina, HP''s chairman and CEO. "Today''s announcement
is the upshot of a major R&D and manufacturing effort designed to make technology a
more natural extension of how we live and work by engineering our products explicitly
for simplicity and ease of use."
"Today''s announcement culminates a three-year investment to make the process of
taking, printing and sharing photos easier and more affordable for consumers," said
Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, HP Imaging and Printing Group. "This effort
included completely redesigning our products and supplies to meet the emerging needs
of consumers as digital imaging becomes pervasive."
HP begins delivering on its investment with today''s announcement of three new
printers, the HP Deskjet 5550, 3820 and 3420 color inkjet printers.
The new HP Deskjet 5550 color inkjet printer ($149) produces images that rival the
quality of traditional photographs. It features up to six-ink printing with HP''s
exclusive color layering technology from Photoret IV and 4,800-optimized dots-per-inch
(dpi) technology. Photoret IV enables the HP DeskJet 5550 color inkjet printer to
produce more than 1.2 million colors that create images with natural, lifelike skin
tones and bright, vibrant colors at a quality unmatched by any other personal printer
available today.
HP also announced two sub-$100 printers that address the increasing demand for
affordable and reliable high-quality printing. They are the HP Deskjet 3420 color
inkjet printer ($99) and the HP Deskjet 3820 ($79) color inkjet printer, which
features 4,800-optimized dpi.
According to the HP release, IDC predicts that by 2005, more than 15 billion digital
images will be printed in the US alone and that over one-third of American households
will own digital cameras. A recent InfoTrends study shows that 81 percent of people
intending to purchase a digital camera expect to print their digital photos at home.
A quick check of HP''s website revealed that the 5550 and 3820 both ship with Mac
drivers, including X versions. No Mac-specific info on the 3420 appears to be
available.
Analysis: Choice is good and more Mac-compatible printers can''t be bad. HP''s Mac
support has on the whole been o.k. to good, though it certainly could be better in the
form of faster updates and more compatible models.
In a down market, peripherals and add-ons are where its at. Hopefully, Apple''s own
digital lifestyle product announcements at MWNY will raise the bar further.
Post your comments at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=568
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