Printer trend: Getting increasingly integrated
Samsi Darmawan, IT market analyst, Jakarta
A computer is not a stand-alone that can be operated without any supporting hardware and software. Today, a printer, for example, is still an essential computer accessory.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the computer printer market abounds with various makes of printers. The players in the printer industry are made up of not only computer producers but also photocopier manufacturers.
The latter have developed their photocopiers in such a way that they can be used as printers, scanners and even fax machines at the same time. These are known as an All-In-One (AIO) or Multi-Function Device (MFD), wherein devices that were originally separate entities have become integrated in a new multipurpose instrument that is more futuristic in character.
Take, for example, Canon MPC200 printer, which, in Indonesia, is marketed by PT Datascrip. This multifunction printer, originally designed as a home photocopier, has later been developed into a copier and at the same time a scanner in a multifunction unit that comes in a size suitable for a desk. Weighing only 9.8 kilograms and sold at US$280, it can also print photos from a PC or without a PC.
Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard (HP) boasts its PSC 2210 and OfficeJet 6110 as its MFD. The two are printers using desk jet technology. They can be used not only as ordinary printers but are also provided with a fax feature with a capability of sending and dispatching colored documents and photos.
At the end of the day, printers do not simply have a standard function but must have their own superior edge. Take, for example, other HP products such as Photosmart 8230 Photo Printer and Photosmart 3100 AI series. They are ink-based printers that claim to have broken the printing speed record for home and office use. These units are provided with Scalable Printing Technology to help home users and companies obtain quality printing at a high speed and at a lower cost per page. It will take only 14 seconds, for example, to print a photo measuring 4 inches by 6 inches.
Analysts say that most new peripherals are related to entertainment such as a digital camera, an MP3 player and wireless accessories.
"They have taken the place of a scanner and an external drive that used to be the most popular accessories for a computer," said Jed Kolko, a Forrester Research analyst.
Given the many computing activities that a computer has to undertake, printers, web cameras, digital cameras, scanners and CD-RW drives as computer accessories are more widely used today. Interestingly, while in the past peripherals were put outside a PC, most of them are now built-in.
Indeed, as devices of various functions become more integrated in one instrument, the use of external drives is now much reduced. An MP3 player, particularly Apple's iPod, is a computer accessory expected to gain the greatest popularity among computer users. Accessories that will also gain great popularity will be flat panel screens, digital cameras and film cameras, CD burners and combo drives for notebooks.
Other accessories that will also become trendy will be the digital cameras and wireless keyboards and mouses. The wireless technology has actually been applied in various electronic products today. The use of infra-red optic on the wireless keyboards and mouses has actually given great freedom to the users.
It is true that, unlike new Intel-made processors, for example, keyboards and mouses will not speed up the entire performance of PCs. In Mangga Dua, Jakarta Kota and in several computer selling centers, these two devices are found in abundance. They come in a great variety ranging from those with a serious appearance to those that have a fancy look, featuring the shape of a mouse in the case of a computer mouse or the colors of a rainbow for a keyboard.
What is obvious is that the wireless technology has made cables much less interesting to use. Furthermore, the wireless technology seems to promise a good future as nearly every analyst agrees that in the future a wireless computer network will be something commonly found in a household. The world will seem to become smaller and become borderless when, on the one hand, as Bill Gates has always dreamed of, each household owns a computer while, on the other hand, computing and the wireless technology develop further.
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