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Xerox puts the push on colour
By Ken Mark
In the hotly contested office printer market, Xerox is putting more of its eggs in the colour basket. It’s aiming to build on the momentum that bumped up colour’s share of its total 2004 annual revenues to 25 per cent from 16 per cent in 2003.
And to put its money where its mouth is, Xerox announced it will commit 70 per cent of its annual US$1.4 billion R&D budget to enhancing its solid ink technology. Equally important, it’s expanding its lineup of printers and consulting services, and opening up new sales channels to reach small- and medium-sized businesses.
By 2008, Xerox wants to triple the number of colour pages printed by business to 10 per cent from the current three per cent. “Colour is no longer a ‘nice to have’. It’s a smarter, more effective way to communicate and add value to communication,” said Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox, at the recent San Francisco launch of the C2424 printer.
Cost issues
But to ensure colour printing proliferates widely, the cost must come down. Many companies currently restrict colour printing to specific people, certain departments and special projects. By leveraging its lead in technology, Xerox hopes to reduce costs to make users feel comfortable hitting the print button rather than asking for permission first.
Xerox is spreading the idea that companies can gain full value from their colour investments by redesigning their statements, invoices and marketing materials to create clearer, more personalized documents.
For example, Xerox helped the New York State tax office redesign its forms, highlighting the due date and the telephone help line number in colour. The result was a 30 per cent increase in comprehension and response rates.
Nevertheless, Xerox will likely face an uphill struggle to expand its market share. According to the latest data from Toronto-based Evans Research Corp., the Canadian colour printer market is growing by more than 30 per cent annually.
In 2004, 31,000 units were sold, up from 24,000 in 2003. “That level may not be sustainable,” says Bill Fournier, senior analyst of printer products for Evans Research. “But it should still stay above 20 per cent for the foreseeable future.
“Most of the growth is in the lower-end, SOHO (small-office, home-office) segment where Xerox is not active.”
Overall, Xerox has about 18 per cent of the colour printer market versus 40 per cent for Hewlett-Packard. “One solution is education,” says Fournier. “Companies will soon learn that if the competition uses colour in its documents and marketing materials and they don’t, it makes them look bad.”
With that in mind, it seems colour is becoming much more important than just a “nice to have.”
Ken Mark is a Toronto-based business and technology journalist.
Monitors in motion
LCD makers perfect video quality
By Lisa Wichmann
LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors are barging into the office market, promising less glare, better energy efficiency and sharper images. Now the task is making them more suitable for motion video.
That’s why major vendors are coming out with faster response times, for better streaming video. New models feature response rates of eight milliseconds (ms) and less. For instance, NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America Inc. recently unveiled a new line called the MultiSync GX. Available in both 17 and 19 inches, the monitors are among the first in the industry to have an ultra-high speed 8-ms response rate, delivering crystal-clear full-motion video, according to NEC-Mitsubishi.
“The technology we’ve loaded into the NEC MultiSync GX monitors virtually eliminates the frustrations with LCD motion image quality that most consumers…have suffered at one time or another,” says Preston Harris, senior product specialist for NEC-Mitsubishi.
The monitors also have a high-performance video mode with real-time adaptive image enhancement that continuously optimizes colour, contrast and brightness. An integrated four-port USB 2.0 powered hub allows users to easily connect to video cameras, high-speed gaming peripherals, storage devices, digital cameras, PDAs, keyboards, mice, etc.
The new and improved on-screen manager provides clear and easy-to-understand menus. The monitors also have adjustable heights, tilt and swivel, and an integrated cable management system to reduce clutter. The 17-inch is called the MultiSync LCD 1770GX; the 19-inch is the LCD 1970GX.
New from ViewSonic Corp. is an extreme performance LCD monitor with a four-millisecond response time. The VX924 “ends the debate of LCDs not being fast enough for graphic design, DVD applications and gaming,” according to ViewSonic.
The 19-inch VX924 has 1280 by 1024 native resolution, high brightness and contrast ratios. It offers smooth, broadcast-quality video without ghosting, the company reports. Its slim design makes it ideal for any desktop. os
Raising the bar on projectors
Every year, LCD projectors pack more resolution into smaller packages. The units get smaller and lighter, as their range and performance increase.
Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd.’s XG-MB70X offers a brightness of 3000 ANSI lumens (or 2600 in economy), and weighs 9.1 lbs. Contrast ratio is 2000:1 (high) and 1000:1, with XGA native resolution and maximum resolution of SXGA+. It comes with a 1.5x power zoom/focus lens and two computer inputs, along with a wireless remote and mouse. MSRP is $6,799.
One of Canon Canada Inc.’s latest offerings is billed as the world’s most compact and lightweight LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) projector with “best in class” brightness, according to Canon.
Called the Realis SX50, the multimedia projector has super-high SXGA+ resolution, which delivers high contrast with outstanding image quality. The projector weighs just 3.9 kg and can project a 100-inch image on a screen from 2.9 metres away. Colours can be adjusted and corrected through various control mechanisms. Suggested list price is $7,500. os
Toshiba marks 20 portable years
Markham, Ont.—Toshiba of Canada Information Systems Group marked 20 years in the portable PC market in April.
To commemorate the milestone, it unveiled three new portables in the ultra slim and ultra small categories. The Portege R200 is just 2.7 lbs. It comes with a 12-inch LCD display and an integrated fingerprint reader for improved security.
Built in is an Intel Pentium M processor 753, a 1.8-inch 60-GB hard drive and 512 MB of memory. It also has a wireless LAN card. The “Anniversary Edition” comes with a metallic silver keyboard. Suggested price is $2,699 for the regular edition.
Also launched was the Libretto U100 mini-notebook, small enough to be held in the palm of a hand. It weighs 2 lbs. and has a 7.2-inch LCD screen, 1.1 GHz 60-GB hard disk and 512 MB of DDR memory. It comes with a portable DVD player and full-sized keyboard. Its screen requires half the power of a portable computer, thanks to LED backlight technology. Battery life is 5.3 hours, and suggested price is $2,599. os
Internet faxing package lands award
Ottawa—A virtual fax product by Protus IP Solutions Inc. (Ottawa) has won the 2004 Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions magazine, published by the Technology Marketing Corporation (Norwalk, Conn.).
Virtual Fax is an Internet-based solution which allows users to send and receive faxes using existing e-mail accounts or the Web. Users are able to fax securely without dedicated fax machines or fax lines. The product also eliminates long-distance faxing charges.
Protus is also touting the increased security of Internet faxing. Traditional faxes can pose privacy concerns as documents sit idle and other people share the machine. With e-mail and Web faxing, incoming documents are sent directly to the intended recipient.
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