Digital BW, The Print

> ... there will be ways to get around this with the large format
> machines. Just need to get the right people working on it.

Yes, there are always ways around things, but they may be expensive and
limit the market.  I suspect I'll be able to find ink for my 7500 for some
time.

However, there are lots of different interests here.  One might be the
competitive position of professional printing service bureaus.  There is
probably a significant market for large prints to be made from files
provided by consumers or professional photographers who only have desktop
printers.  Epson seems to think so and is entering this market, including
for B&W printing, according to an Epson representative I spoke with last
week.

The plan is to have people be able to print at home and just e-mail the file
to Epson for printing larger versions.

I suspect that what inks those consumers use on their Epson desktop machines
might be relevant to what they have used to make the larger prints.

If they use only the OEM inkset on the desktop, they will probably be more
likely to go to Epson for the large format printing. 

If there is a large thriving dedicated B&W market at the desktop level,
those people may want to stick with a dedicated B&W system.  They will know
from experience how good the dedicated B&W can be.  I personally think our
dedicated B&W inksets are simply better.

The third party inks and their lower costs at both the desktop and large
format levels might significantly enlarge this B&W market and the
competitive opportunities. 

Epson control of the market, especially combined with its in-house printing
service, will probably not be good for third party service bureaus or for
the B&W market as a whole.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com