It's been a few years since I attended a meeting at Ricoh to discuss the emergence of A4 devices and what type of effect they were having on the market place. Almost three years from the anniversary of that meeting Ricoh will officially enter the color A4 market with a Segment Two and Three system.
I'm hoping that Ricoh does not follow the likes of Sharp, Samsung and KonicaMinolta when it comes to cost per page pricing. For years I've been touting that what we (Sales) need in the field is an A4 device whether color or monochrome that has an A3 cost per page model. If this goal is to capture additional clicks then why even lower cost A4's to market with higher cost per pages than A3 models. The one downfall of the A4 MFP's is the lower hardware cost, which means lower profits (hey, I thought no one made a profit on the box and it was the supply revenue), which in turn means everyone will have to sell more boxes to maintain current profit levels! We'll see, I'm hoping for a kick butt Cost Per Page, but I'm not betting the ranch here.
A few questions about the new Zeus:
- Where will the cost per page be for color and monochrome?
- Will it be manufactured in China or elsewhere?
- Will it have an ARDF and not and not an ADF?
- Will it have additional Paper Feed Units?
- Will it work with APP2ME?
- Will it have a Document Server?
- Will it print from an SD Card or USB?
-=Good Selling=-
Art, its quite clear that you're a Pro Ricoh guy!!!!! Sharp leads the industry with A4 and we hear anti A4 from you, now that Ricoh is announcing A4, they are the Hero!!! Yeah Yeah! Meanwhile Ricoh is trying to run independant dealers out of business, when will you recognize how they are ruining our business, when they run you and your family over? I'm done with this site!!!!
ReplyDeleteOver!!!
Do you really think A4 products should have a CPC that is equal to A3 products?!? The CPC pricing is already way too low, profits are gonme on the equipment, if profits go away for supplies, what will fund manufacturers R&D?
ReplyDeletebratoq;
ReplyDeleteThanx for the post, first I don't know where you get that I'm anti A4, anyone who knows me and reads this blog know that I'm Pro A4, always was and always have been. Read the blogs you'll see. I still sell Ricoh on the street, so sure I'm Ricoh PRO ( I need to feed the family ):). Please do a search on the this blog for the Sharp frontier series, you'll see that I wrote some very kind words about the frontier and had extra help with one of your Sharp Product guys. So, before you want to run me and my family over with Ricoh, take the time read what I've wrote, thanx again and hope to hear from you soon!!!
Do you really think A4 products should have a CPC that is equal to A3 products?!? The CPC pricing is already way too low, profits are gonme on the equipment, if profits go away for supplies, what will fund manufacturers R&D?
ReplyDeleteBratog:
Thanx for this also!!! Let me explain, I'm in one of the most competitive market places in the world (NYC Metro), and we don't give away service and we're making a profit! We've changed our value points to stress that service is value and we bring value to the table. Yeah, we get beat on lower cpp deals, however we're willing to let them go the lowest price, heck we don't want them if they can't see the value.
As far as A4 vs A3 cost per page, hell yes, I want the new A4's to have the same cost per page as the A3's and if they do, I get more business and be more profitable because all of the other A4 color devices have a A4 cost per page model (higher than A3).
Thanx again for the post and to see you back again.
Art
Art, anyone that thinks you are anti A$ has not been paying attention. I am also curious how anyone could think that lower costs would mean lower profits. Profit is what you make it, cost is the hand we are dealt.
ReplyDeleteJust got the launch info on the new 30 - 55 page models and it looks impressive. Induction fusing so envelopes can be fed from the trays, DOSS and other security features that were options on previous models are now standard, will handle even heavier paper stocks, and the ability to print from a thumb drive.
ReplyDeleteAs for the new A4, what I have heard is that it is a great box but the mistake Ricoh made is that they set the MSRP so low in relation to the equipment cost that it will be difficult to make money with particularly if you are upgrading an existing lease and need to factor in return costs or upgrade costs from the leasing partner.
Anyone in this group have a launch schedule for the new Zeus A4 models?
ReplyDeleteDecember 2010 launch, with shipments in January of 2011
ReplyDeleteI've just started to study the new Ricoh MPC300/400.
ReplyDeleteIt handle paper of max: 256 g/m2
It has an adustable 8,5 inch Touch-LCD
It support scan/print to/from USB and SD cards.
Java-SDK og App2Me is standard.
It can feature a compact finishing option.
Adobe Postscript 3
HDD-Ecryption-Unit og DOS-Kit.
Extended user code feature.
Modern GW controller.
The drums and developer will last 60K.
The fuser will last 120K before maint.
The ITB cleaning unit will last 180K.
The ITB and fuser bearings will last 240K.
It's basically an SPC420 made to be a MFC.
I have not had any time to check the price for the machine or toner/PM kit. But they have to be fairly aggressive if you look at the prices Lexmark have.