Digital BW, The Print

My whole career in business was with high tech companies.  My 2 cents  
on this is as follows:

Inventing around -
Few if any patents are iron clad.  The director of research for a  
company which had and probable still does have an 85+% market share  
in its field told me that "if you want to work around a patent just  
tell me how fast you want to do it and I'll tell you how much money I  
need."  The problem for small companies is the "money" issue which is  
not one for the likes of HP and Canon.  Which is why they are going  
after the pigment printer market.

Epson's failure to respond to the market -
This can be put in one word "arrogance".  I don't find the saving of  
3rd party inks all that much of a saving because I don't use CIS or  
refill and because I really don't want the hassle of refilling and  
the potential clogging and ink changeover problems.  So the cost is  
not my main issue.   What matters to me is getting the image I want.   
Here is where Epson's arrogance comes in.  I print mainly B&W.   
Epson's matte is simply too warm.  Now don't tell me they don't know  
it.  Ebony is the only 3rd non Epson ink I use in my 2200.  All they  
have to do is make an alternative ink and I would be 100% Epson.

Epson's  arrogance and GM attitude, "what good for GM is good for the  
country" is what has brought out all the competition.  Maybe Epson  
should take a note form Toyota and give the buyer what he wants.

The second confirmation of their arrogance is taking this action just  
as Canon and HP move in on them.

The good will they would achieve by dropping their lawsuits would be  
more profit to them than what they will net from suing, especially  
after their legal costs.

By the way, I am going to forward copies of this email to Seiko in  
Japan, Epson Japan and Epson USA.
I would suggest that anyone who wants to make their own  points do  
the same.

Who knows where this idea came from in the corporate structure.  I  
would suspect its from the the operation unit most threatened  by HP  
and Canon (US? as I don't think they would get far in the EEC).

Seiko or Epson Japan may be blind to the public relations disaster  
about to visit them.

If they persist I am sure my next printer will be a pigment Canon or HP

David Dorn

David M. Dorn wrote:

> 
> Epson's  arrogance and GM attitude, "what good for GM is good for the  
> country" is what has brought out all the competition.  Maybe Epson  
> should take a note form Toyota and give the buyer what he wants.
> 
> The second confirmation of their arrogance is taking this action just  
> as Canon and HP move in on them.


It will be interesting to see whether Epson will speed up 
their product introductions. With the 2200-9600 generation and 
the 2400-9800 generation I had strong suspicion that more 
innovation was on the shelves but not introduced by the lack 
of competition in the market. Milking the crowd with gradual 
steps isn't new and a sound marketing concept if the market 
allows it. That's no longer possible for Epson pigment 
printers so expect a faster product cycle.

I also wonder whether the thermo head solutions (Canon, HP, 
Lexmark, Dell) now that they have taken the step to prosumer 
pigment printers get in a better position with the lower price 
of their thermo heads. I have seen that Canon W8400P heads 
(44" pigment printer) are on price lists so not an article you 
have to order from special companies like Epson requires. HP 
had the same policy with the wide format pigment and dye 
printers. If the user can do the job easy and isn't kept from 
doing it like in the Epson policy it could mean a real 
advantage. Epson will have to address that too.

Ernst

                    --
           Ernst Dinkla


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