Company uses ‘Harry Potter’ to pitch low printing costs

Friday, April 1, 2011

RATHER than photocopy multiple documents, a technology company has unveiled a line of printers that they said will bring down the cost of printing documents.

In a briefing held Thursday, representatives of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Philippines introduced their Ink Advantage printers line, which they said can reduce printing costs by up to 50 percent.

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Erwin Creencia, who heads HP Philippines’ inkjet and web solutions, said it is now possible to print up to 600 pages with just one ink cartridge.

The black ink cartridges print up to 600 pages while the colored cartridges can print up to 250 pages.

To demonstrate, Creencia had colleagues print a “Harry Potter” manuscript while the briefing was going on.

Creencia said that if a user printed documents on an Ink Advantage printer using an HP 703 cartridge, they will end up spending P0.63 for each page.

The 703 cartridge costs P390.

He said that with this printer, offices will no longer have to send messengers out to photocopy documents for multiple copies because it is cheaper than buying many print cartridges.

Another feature is that the ink does not blot if the pages get wet. They also demonstrated this by pouring water on the printed copy.

They claimed this was due to color-lock technology, a chemical solution in the ink and the HP copy paper that allows the ink to stay intact, without blotting or spreading on the page.

This way, Creencia noted that files meant for archives are kept safe.

Value

Creencia added that the HP copy paper is sold at the same price as regular copy paper.

Charles Lizares, HP Philippines consumer sales manager, said he believes that if consumers see the value brought about by their products, they will no longer see the need to buy refills from ink stalls.

“This works with the ink jet system rather than separately,” he said.

He assured that using the Ink Advantage line assures reliability, cost effectiveness and quality printouts.

While he admitted that refill ink is cheaper, he said customers will see that in the long run, there are hidden costs when it comes to buying cheaper products.

Lizares said print quality and the number of pages printed will be affected with cheaper products.

The Ink Advantage line has six models, from single-function printers to all-in-one printers. The line was first introduced in 2009 to offer small businesses a way to print affordably.

However, they later learned that over 70 percent of users who bought the Ink Advantage printers were home users.

“This shows many home users are looking for great value printers with low running costs. Fuelled by this strong consumer demand, we decided to introduce a full line-up of Ink Advantage printers to offer home users greater choices,” Creencia said.