enx magazine

On November 13, we were brought to Manhattan to see the unveiling of Konica Minolta’s ambitious new printer strategy. A mix of two new All-In-Ones (AIO) and three “magicolor” and “pagepro” printers will stock Konica Minolta’s portfolio with a total of 11 color and monochrome printers and four AIO devices, depending on how you count their offerings. Few vendors market this many printing solutions and Konica Minolta believes this will boost their credibility in the IT community.

The new products include the 25-PPM (color and black speeds) magicolor 4650, the 45-PPM monochrome pagepro 5650 and the 35-PPM (color and black) magicolor 8650. All devices will include one year on-site service as well as faster processors and much more standard memory than most competitors offer on comparable printers. All new printers will offer standard Gigabit Ethernet capability although some analysts questioned whether this protocol truly offers customers any performance enhancement. Whether it does or doesn’t, customers considering an upgrade to this type of network will certainly want printers that have the ability to run at that speed.

Konica Minolta left no doubt that their target is Hewlett-Packard, comparing the performance and pricing of several new models to similar HP LaserJets. While certainly competitive when considering pricing and speed specifications, we think it will take much more to take market share away from HP. Indeed, in the IT world, HP’s strength is not based on how fast a page comes out of the printer nor is it based on cost per page and acquisition cost. HP’s dominant market share comes from their reputation for reliability, their leading print management solution (Web Jetadmin) and their innovative software and installation solutions such as their Universal Print Driver.

When we asked Kevin Kern, Vice President of Product Planning and Marketing, how Konica Minolta would address these Hewlett Packard strengths, particularly in the print management area, we were told that an upgraded version of Konica Minolta’s PageScope print management software will be launched in 2008. While this is a step in the right direction, Konica Minolta will have their hands full trying to prove their superiority over Web Jetadmin, often considered the benchmark in print management software.

One of the more intriguing and understated portions of the presentation was the discussion about distribution and Konica Minolta’s forthcoming exit from the retail channel. Kern seemed confidant that Konica Minolta’s 550 BTA dealers, 81Direct Selling Branches and 2,000 VAR Partners represent a much stronger opportunity to sell their printers and AIO devices than the retail channel. While ultimately this is probably true, giving up retail presence will reduce their exposure in the market. Perhaps the

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