HP still rules the roost in printer market

Hewlett-Packard was the top rung player in the Indian printer, copier and multifunction product (MFP) market with a 51-per cent market share during the third quarter of 2012, compared with the same period a year ago.

Canon with a 23-per cent market share was in the second position and Epson, with 9 per cent, was in the third slot. Samsung ranked third with an 8 per cent of market share, according to a study by research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.

The inkjet printer market declined for seven consecutive quarters, as the market declined 24.5 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2011. HP witnessed a shipment decline of 29.9 per cent, and accounted for 47.4 per cent of the market.

Epson had a shipment decline of 19.1 per cent, and had 38.5 per cent market share. Canon, which had improved its inkjet printers in the second quarter, suffered a 17.9 in unit shipment per cent compared with the third quarter of 2011, contributing to 14.1 per cent of market share.

The combined serial inkjet and page printer, copier and MFP product market in India totalled 7,60,778 units in the third quarter of 2012, a 4.7 per cent decline from the third quarter of 2011. However, the total end-user spending stood at $246.5 million, up 31 per cent from the same period last year.

''The festive season did not really resuscitate the printer copier market; as was expected by most of the major hardware providers. With besieged economic environment and green initiatives gaining growing importance, organizations adopted a 'wait and watch' approach on their IT spending for peripheral devices,'' said Amrita Choudhury, research analyst at Gartner.