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=-

Riso ComColor Review

To tell you the truth, I was always skeptical about the Riso's new ComColor devices. The engine technology is ink, it's simple and the new ComColor's from Riso seem to be a hit and not a bust like the HP's Edgeline.

There are acutally six different models, the 3010 and the 3050 are 90 ppm full color devices that will copy, print and scan letter and legal only. The 7010 and 7050 are 120 ppm full color devices that will copy, print and scan letter, legal and ledger. Then there's the flagship models of the 9010 and the 9050 capable of 150 ppm color that will also copy, print and scan letter, legal and ledger.

Today, I had the chance to print various documents to the 7050, to say the least, I WAS IMPRESSED. This was my first "hands on" for the equipment. I printed a 12 page full color 11x17 booklet (saddle stitched) in about 15 seconds and a 32 page booklet (saddle stitched) in about 30 seconds. Not only was I impressed with the speed, but these speeds where acheived with the highest quality settings. I used 300x600, line smoothing and error diffusion , the quality of the color was exceptional! Since the ComColor uses ink, of course it won't give laser output, but it will give you knock your socks off color at a great price of three and a half cents per page and don't forget about the speed!

I also took notice that with the standard printer driver you also had the capability of using a 70 line screen and a 100 line screen. I tested these two screens on the booklets and again the output impressed me.

To me the ComColor's mantra should be "Print Shop in Box", it's a little limited with very heavy stock, however I was able to run 90lb index two sided with out a hitch. I also test pressure seal paper which fed very well and also produced very good quality.

The unit I tested had an MSRP of about $65,000. The system is designed to run 500,000 pages per month.

Where do I see this system making a big splash? Direct Mail and in house CRD's. Direct Mail has an awesome application with pressure seal paper. For just pennies, you can produce full color direct mail pieces that can include the outbound postal indicia and the return "reply card" postal indicia. The entire piece can be printed two sided with the variable data. No more boring direct mail letters in monochrome, combined with the pressure seal paper and color, this is an awesome solution for all Direct Mail Companies.

It's late, I think the ComColor is a winner, and give it a ten! Can't wait to see the next generation of these models. Maybe they'll get the price down to make them affordable for the SMB market.

-=Good Selling=-

BTW, if RISO is reading this, thanx for helping

HP Edgeline "What Went Wrong"

I had an email the other day from an analyst from a major printer vendor. In the email I was asked "what went wrong with this program?" I thought, geez your asking me?? I had done a few blogs in reference to the HP edgeline after it's before and after the release. (HP's Touted Edgeline MFP's "Ready to Rock"? & Who's Afraid of HP Edgeline CM8000 Series?)

Here's my response to the analyst:

Where Edgeline Went Wrong! Maybe I should have named it the Death of Edgeline (arrggg!! Greg Walters from The Death of the Copier already scooped me on that! LOL)

HP tried to take copier market share from Copier Manufacturers, even though they put some copier dealers on, HP did not do it's homework on the media and finishing applications that end users need (or maybe they did, but thought they could capture market share based on cpp pricing). I heard from many reps around the country who complained that there was no bookletmaker option, the system could not print or copy thicker stock, no 3-hole punching, Slow FCOT, duplex limitations and limited paper supply and the weight of the unit. If you're going to attack the copier market place, you need to make a copier or MFP centric device, not a printer centric device.

I have client who has an HP MFP because they thought they were getting a good deal on the Internet. Everyone in the office despises the unit because it is not user friendly, I must say over the years that's one thing that the Japanese manufacturers got right "Ease of Use"!

Hey, being on sales for 29 years in the office equipment business you need
to "sell" the sales people, and get them pumped!

The "Edgeline" concept was a good one based on the low cpp of color and monochrome, however end users want more from these systems. They want to be able to print almost anything at any given time. Today' business climate is an "on demand one", I want it now, I need this ASAP, we need to make changes now. With the limited specs of the HP Edgeline, sales people could not recommend these systems to end users and some of the
companies that purchased or leased them wish they had bought something else.

My dealership (the one I work for) was in business for 28 years not once
did an HP DSM come calling on us to take on the product line. I really
don't think HP understands the mentality of the ITEX Dealer Channel. They
understand VAR's, but not dealers. Also, why would a dealer take on their
product when HP is selling the same product on it's web site?????

Dealers need at least 50% MARGINS, in order to "make things happen"
offering anything less in this channel and you're wasting your time and the
dealers time. Guess HP thought that everyone should be happy with 12%
margins.

Is the end result that HP did not know how to sell them? Naw, I just think that they rushed the product to market and didn't "copy" how copier manufacturers market their devices. I remember reading something with the pre-launch of Edgeline in reference to HP thinking that they would capture 35% of the volume in "x" amount of years in the ITEX channel! I wonder if that guy still has a job?

Couple of other items I heard, not sure if it's true or not, the entire Edgeline team was laid off, support was moved to Singapore and their may or may not be a second gen HP Edgeline. If there is a second gen, they'll have to dump the "Edgeline" which will be synomous with "New Coke", "Ford Edsel", "BenGay Aspirin", "McDonalds Deluxe", "Apple Lisa", and "Windows Vista".....and the list goes on.

The Ultimate MFP

I was on the phone today with a potential customer. This customer has a high volume somewhere in the area of 10 million pages per month. So we starting talking about technology and where it is and where is might go. We spoke in length about the HP Edgeline, CTP for Duplicators, however where we ended up is talking about just adding a splash of color to a monochrome document.

Well, I know the HP Edgeline (highlight color) can do this, however his media requirements does not make the Edgeline a good fit. As a matter of fact it seemed there is no good fit for him. His statement was that they need to add a single color line or a word in color and with his present equipment he would have a charge of six cents per page just for the splash of color. His customers would not pay the price.

In another thought I remember a system from SeriPrinter that actually had a VDP head at the end of the curing process. My question to all of the manufacturers out there is why can't a laser system be developed that prints monochrome but allows the user to add a splash of color or logo with with ink similar to the Seri Printer?

I would tend to think the market for a dedicated system would be tremendous. Thoughts from anyone????

-=Good Selling=-

Art

Polling Copier Sales People

Here's a few more polls that were conducted on the Print4Pay Hotels Message Boards. The Print4Pay Hotel has dedicated message boards for Canon, KonicaMinolta, Kyocera, Xerox and the Ricoh Family Group. Enjoy!

Poll: Has HP's CM8050/CM8060 Color MFP taken any of your business, or have you seen any of these in the field?

53% No

47% No, and I have not seen any in the field!

Some members who voted were actually dual line dealers for HP and Ricoh, interesting that the much vaulted HP CM8050/CM8060 has not been seen in the field by 47% of our members.

Poll: "Commission For Clicks" Has The Time Come for Sales People to be Paid on Click Revenue?

78% Yes

10% No

12% Not Sure

I know of a few trials being conducted for click revenue, I will report more on this once I hear back from them. Seems to me this should be the wave of the future!

Poll: "Color CPC Poll" How low do you think all inclusive Color Cost Per Copies will Go?

.065 (6%)

.06 (3%)

.055 (10%)

.05 (29%)

.045 (19%)

.040 (10%)

.035 (6%)

under .035 (16%)

51% our our members believe the price will fall below 5 cents for all inclusive color pages.

-=Good Selling=-

Who's Afraid of HP Edgeline CM8000 Series?

Well here goes, these are statements that were reported to me from members of the Print4Pay Hotel.

1. No Offset Stacking: I can't believe they made this big of a machine with offset!
2. No 3 Hole Punch: Again WOW!
3. Limited Card Stock: Only through the by-pass (I think this unit is rated for max 58lb only)
4. 11x17: The trays are very slow on 11x17 and the by-pass seems faster!
5. Misfeeds: While it doesn't misfeed much at all, if a user leaves a misfeed in over the weekend it will dry out the print heads (ouch!)
6. Weight (725lbs): Can not use a stairclimber because there are no stress points!
7. Black cpc: It's not the ink price that will get you but the cost of the maintenance kits!
8. Availability for the next six months: slim enough that we are looking to pick up another line!
9. CPP for color: Business .05 and Professional .06 cents per page!
10. Strangely enough, the letter paper only runs thru the machine in landscape orientation from the LCT (can't even load portrait/speed).
11. Standard 1,500 sheet paper supply only!
12. VERY slow FCOT (First Copy Out Time) 12 seconds.
13. Ink cartridges load from the bottom of the device (Oh my Back!)
14. To protect the print heads from electrostatic discharge, be sure to touch the
horizontal metal bar to ground yourself before clearing jams that are near the print heads. The print heads are above the print-drum area.
15. HP recommends that you do not use this device for printing on sequential paper, such as pre-numbered checks or invoices.


So, where does this lead us? First thoughts is that all of these issues will be corrected in a next generation model, whenever that comes about. Also their foray into the MFP marketplace with this system will leave a lot to be desired. The retail cost per page is impressive, however the system lacks the meat and potato features that High Volume MFP users are used to such as: Heavy Stock 110lb - 160lb, duplex of thick stock, Bookletmaker, Paper Punch Device, envelopes, transparencies and offset stacking!

Based on an average monthly volume of 50,000 pages the system will need print head replacement at 38 months (What is the cost for this?), plus I'll bet the ranch that the best print and copy quality is on "inkjet paper".

So when we get right down to it there are many deficiencies when compared to the standard laser MFP made by Ricoh, Xerox, Canon and Konica Minolta. Take a test drive you can download the manuals from HP, you can download the printer driver also.

One other note I found and I interpreted like this, when you are printing or copying pages with mized coverage, the system will slow down for high coverage areas, if this is the case, I believe this system is not much more than hype and will be easy to beat.