HP's Edgeline Missed the Resurrection Ship

Seems like HP's Edgeline has missed the departure gate for the Resurrection Ship.

Rumors state that the Edgeline is being discontinued....also certain reports indicate that HP will support all MIF's for 5 years.

Bloggers like Greg at Death of the Copier and I have blogged about the Edgeline and from time to time gave our opinions as to why the HP Edgeline is now considered the "New Coke" of the Office Equipment Industry.

In one report it was suggested that the demise of the Edgeline was based on the market still favors laser technology. Maybe, just maybe the Edgeline was ahead of its time. When the Edgeline was released (about May of 2007) most of us were enjoying the fruits of our success and we weren’t overwhelmed with a multifunctional ink system that produced average business color for a penny or two less than its laser counterparts. Also no one was interested is saving a few additional pennies for accent color, hey times were good and HP had to WOW us and they didn't. What about NOW? With the current drag of the recession, cost is first and foremost on everyone’s mind. Why can't the HP Edgeline make a comeback with some minor teaks with speeds and feeds and a much lower MSRP.

A recent release from Lyra "Lyra expects commercial ink jet printer technologies and products to play a significant role in the future growth of the digital imaging industry. Leaders from major OEMs such as Canon/Océ, HP, InfoPrint, Kodak, and Screen as well as print head manufacturers and ink and media suppliers are converging to advance commercial ink jet technology."

I believe the office market is ready for inkjet technology, in a previous blog about Riso's ComColor (ink); we coined the technology as "News Color". Meaning, color documents that are read today and gone tomorrow, why in the world do we need laser color to market our services, products, and or information bearing media if it's going to read today and gone tomorrow.

If you believe that we've been in the Great Recession, then you'll probably agree that all of us will be more conscious of our costs moving forward, who wouldn't. Thus, the emergence of less expensive print technology that will cut costs and help the environment should be a no brainer. Of course MSRP's along with speeds and feeds have to be in line with current laser technology.


-=Good Selling=-