In comments from IDC it was predicted that laser will “steal the limelight” amid a “big shift” from inkjets.
Gulf News interviewed Ashwin Venkatachari, IDC’s Senior Programme Manager of Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions, who noted that laser printers are set to “see more growth than inkjet in the UAE”. He added that the market is expected to see a 4.5 percent growth “as companies are making a lot of investment, and as part of this, laser printers “are expected to steal the limelight as the market is marking a big shift form inkjets”.
Inkjet printers are “predominately used in the consumer space” at the moment, but with consumers “now spending more on tablets and smartphones” Venkatachari stated that “consumer spend on printers will be less this year”. Conversely, “there will be a lot of investment happening in the commercial space”, while enterprise and SMB organisations “prefer to use lasers as they print more”.
IDC’s latest results on the UAE printer market showed that it was “aggressive” last year, growing by 10 percent, with the 4.5 percent this year following 2013’s 14 percent growth. Venkatachari commented that “the market is coming off from a higher base; the growth in 2014 was the highest in the last five years. The market value for 2014 was $310 million (€293 million) and is expected to be $320 million (€303 million) this year”.
The news source also spoke to OKI’s Reji Mathew, Marketing Manager for the Middle East, India and Africa, who stated that the OEM’s focus “is only on B2B and we don’t have inkjet printers”. The OEM’s focus on LED technology alongside toner has influenced Xerox and Brother among other OEMs, and Mathew stated that many manufacturers “are moving out of stand-alone inkjet printer[s]” and towards MFPs.
Venkatachari also commented on the growth in MFPs, stating that in laser printers, the growth “will come from colour multifunction printers and not from single multifunction printers”. The advantages of MFPs, such as “better capabilities and flexibilities”, have meant that “price points are coming down amid tough competition”. This has meant “vendors are looking at other revenue opportunities as profit margins are coming under pressure, and they will pressure channel partners to offer more value-added services”.
Another factor in the move towards laser, he added, was the lower level of patenting and research and development. Inkjet, however, requires “a lot of R&D investment”, so “only a few players operate in the inkjet space”. On 3D printing, Venkatachari believes the market remains “a niche market despite [a] fall in prices”, though HP’s entry into the market in 2016 “will shake the 3D printer market a bit”.