Ailing OEM attempts to improve on lacklustre global MFP market share as it endures a ten-year share value low.
The Wall Street Journal has 
reported on the forthcoming unveiling of HP’s new multifunction printers (MFPs) expected 30 October as the struggling OEM bids to challenge its current prosaic global MFP market share.
Keith Kmetz, ICD analyst, remarked that while Xerox, Canon and Ricoh have “all made strides in this market, HP has held on to an existing portfolio that has aged over the years.”
HP CEO Meg Whitman has been resolute in her analysis of the OEM’s diminished presence, repeatedly blaming predecessors for failing to invest in R&D. Following her appointment in September 2011, Whitman has spearheaded a number of initiatives intended to allow HP to commit to substantially increased R&D including eliminating 27,000 jobs – eight percent of its global workforce.
R&D spending was reduced between 2003 and 2010 from $3.7 billion (€2.8 bililon) to $3 billion (€2.3 billion) despite an increase in revenue during this period. Whitman has since increased R&D spending to $3.3 billion (€2.5 billion) and intends another increase within the year.
Whitman added on the lineup release: “We haven’t had a new product lineup in seven years. It was very obvious that we had a product gap here.”