Digital BW, The Print

HP is far
larger than Seiko/Epson and is the dominant market leader in printers
and plotters. Canon is a much stronger brand in the photo market.
Epson is by no means safe from HP or Canon unless they stay
significantly ahead in product. This has driven them to invest heavily
in R&D and rapidly bring innovations to market.
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You do have a point there, but as we know size of a company does not 
necessarily equate to a profitable and stable company, witness Delta Airles, 
United Airlines, and General Motors presently in big trouble. 

It could be a lot more amateur photographers use the small HP printers than I 
am aware of. I just never hear students or even amateurs discussing them. 
And it seems to me that Cannon wants the tv/video market plus the 35mm 
digital camera market, both which are huge and very competitive with Nikon 
and Sony breathing down their necks. They may simply not think printers and 
inks are where its at in the long run. I'm sure I don't know.

I guess when I say Epson controlls the output element of the photo world I am 
refering to inks and to a lesser extent media. I still don't know how profitable 
the actual production of printers is but, as you say the price of ink in those little 
carts shipped all over the world equates to the most expensive fluids in the 
world.

John