Gartner analyst Federico De Silva states that the OEM’s exit from the inkjet industry is symptomatic of one “under a lot of pressure”.
Lexmark’s announcement to exit the inkjet printer industry 
and reduce its global workforce by approximately 13 percent is “[an admission] that the market for inkjet printers was so bad that it was best to get out before things got any worse”, reports MarketWatch.
Noting that the OEM has long been directing its focus on higher-margin software, managed print services (MPS) and laser printing operations, Lexmark’s announcement that it was leaving the inkjet industry includes the closure of a manufacturing facility in the Philippines and the cutting of 1,700 jobs to a “uniformly upbeat” reaction from investors. Lexmark shares rose by 13.7 percent, closing at $21.62 (€17.23), although is still down more than 30 percent from the start of 2012.
Gartner Inc. analyst Federico De Silva remarked that the OEM’s announcement was reflective of a wider issue, commenting: “It’s symptomatic of an industry that’s under a lot of pressure. It’s sort of the culmination of [Lexmark’s] strategy, to exit inkjet altogether. People are printing and printing less, and not just in the consumer space.”
Lexmark recently announced that total printing hardware revenue declined by 17 percent from 2011, while legacy revenue including consumer inkjet hardware was down by 35 percent and has long represented a drag on the OEM’s performance.
De Silva spoke on the OEM’s continuous shift from the consumer printer market towards a software and MPS focus: “To give credit to Lexmark, they are focusing on specific market segments […] They don’t try to be everything. Now they are focusing on more of the higher-value printing areas.”