Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Samsung Looks to Penetrate US A3 Copier & MFP Market

The rumors started about a year ago that Samsung would enter the A3 Copier & MFP market.  Just to clarify A3 devices allows users to scan, copy, fax and print documents up to 11x17 (tabloid).

Today marked the official launch of 4 A3 devices in the US:

•CLX-9250ND – MSRP; $10,802 (25 PPM color)
•CLX-9350ND – MSRP; $14,498 (35 PPM color)
•SCX-8030ND – MSRP; $9,916 (30 PPM monochrome)
•SCX-8040ND – MSRP; $11,374 (40 PPM monochrome)

I'm kinda wishy washy with them entering the A3 market, I'm not sure if it's the right move for them. For about a year I had heard rumors on the street that Samsung would counter with higher speed A4 devices like a 60, 70 and 90ppm devices. I strongly believe if Samsung had come to market with these A4 devices at these speeds they would have turned the MFP/Copier world on their heels. It's not a secret that 95% of the pages printed in the US are letter and legal.

Just the other day I was at an account that's in the financial business, I was there to inspect 5 devices that were all 60 pages per minute to 90 pages per minute. I printed a report from each to device to get current meter reads, how often duplex was used, stapling, etc.  I made it a point to check the 11x17 output for these devices, and each system was a big fat ZERO for 11x17's that were printed or copied. 

I'm thinking Samsung should have stayed with a strength and developed the higher speed A4's to take market share away from Ricoh, Canon, Xerox and KonicaMinolta.  The foray into the A3 market place may be a big mistake.

-=Good Selling=-

1 comment:

Lee Kirkby said...

Art:

I kind of agree with you. I guess they decided they just don't want to be left in a position where they are always a second line for dealers. Without some ledger product there would be larger deals that they could not go after as it would mean a mixed fleet if ledger was needed in some parts of a deal. Of course it now makes them look a lot like all the rest rather than a unique player.