Digital BW, The Print

This is good news. Perhaps it will discourage Epson from extending this
sculduggery to the large-format printers, and curtail it with the small
ones. Their first attempt with the big printers is the outrageous ink
waste when switching from Photo to Matte Black in the 7600/9600
printers. I almost laughed out loud whan I read Royce Bair's statement
to the effect that Epson, when asked about having a blacks-only purge,
stated that it was impossible due to the design of the heads. Do they
think we are so stupid that we don't remember who the hell designed the
heads in the first place? Give me a break. Either they didn't think far
enough ahead to design the heads for the ink change, and therefore are
incompetent. Or, more likely IMO, saw a way to bilk the customers with
wasted ink, and are therefore dishonest.
 
Anyone who thinks the Intellidge chips are there for any reason besides
the anti-competitive one is pretty naive, IMO. It's a dongle, pure and
simple. Can you imagine the furor if Microsoft required a dongle for
Windows to operate which was provided only with their software, forcing
other vendors to come up with reverse-engineered kludges?
 
Lloyd
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Editor P.O.V. Image Service [mailto:editor@...] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 9:48 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] OEM Ink Pricing & Tactics Invetigated by EU
Anti-Trust Commissioner


" Simon Aughton
EU to investigate ink pricing
The EU is to investigate allegations of anti-competitive practices by
leading printer makers, following complaints that users are being
overcharged for ink cartridges.

The worldwide market for printers and ink and toner cartridges is
dominated by four companies: Canon, Epson, Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard.
The vendors make most of their profits in this market from disposable
cartridges, whilst making next to nothing on the printers. You can
currently buy an Epson Stylus C60 printer for around £69 - and that
includes one black and one colour ink cartridge. Replacements for these
cost £22 and £20 respectively.

The manufacturers have encouraged consumers to buy replacement
cartridges supplied by themselves, rather than 'unbranded' cartridges
from third-parties. Some have suggested that the use of third-party
supplies may result in inferior quality prints and in some cases damage
to the printers.

For example, Epson's Setup and daily Use guide for the Stylus Color 740
says, 'EPSON recommends the use of genuine EPSON ink cartridges. Other
products not manufactured by EPSON may cause damage to your printer not
covered by EPSON's
warranties.'

Nonetheless, third parties have gradually eroded the printer
manufacturers' market share, largely by refilling the original
cartridges for a fraction of the price. According to the Financial Times
some estimates put their market share at around 11 per cent, worth some
$3 billion.

Under EU law, companies cannot exploit a strong market position to
restrict competition. European competition commissioner Mario Monti
raised the issue this week with US anti-trust regulator Charles James
and has concluded that there is, 'probably a case here for us. We intend
to examine this in detail.' The EU can fine companies up to 10 per cent
of their turnover if it finds them guilty of anti-competitive practices.

Hewlett-Packard has already denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman said, 'HP
does not prevent customers from using cartridges from other suppliers.'

The US authorities are also believed to be considering an
investigation."


My personal favorite quote is in the second piece listed below:

"'We're really giving customers a benefit they didn't have before,' said
Epson marketing manager Rajeev Mishra, whose company has installed smart
chips on many replacement cartridges. Mishra says it's done so customers
can track ink use and other printing statistics."

Apparently, in Japanese, the word "benefit" must translate to something
akin to the word hemorrhoid...  ;-)

You can read more on it in the following articles:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1413484

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/perso
nal_technology/3225599.htm






[Keith]



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