With the paperless office on indefinite hold, HP is rolling out a
plethora of printers for the channel, including a number of industry
firsts and its inaugural mobile scanner.
Small business and medium businesses will shell out $81 billion on
printing by 2013, says HP's Susy Brooks, LaserJet product marketing
manager, and the printer company is looking to extend its market
dominance with SMB solutions that stand out from the crowd.
She tells Channel Insider the two design objectives of the new products
were simplifying the out-of-box experience, and lowering customer
costs, including acquisition and power. "HP is really focusing on
ensuring that we have a better experience for our customers."
To deliver on these objectives, the company is announcing what it bills
as the industry's first plug-and-print laser printers that can be up
and printing in as little as two minutes. Another new feature, HP Smart
Install, delivers simpler, faster driver downloads. "This is a
technology that none of our competitors have," says Brooks.
The company’s smallest, most affordable laser printer, the HP LaserJet
Pro P1102w ($129 to $149, replacing the P1005) features wireless
functionality and the new HP Auto-On Technology, which senses activity
– such as when a print job is sent to the printer – and awakens the
device automatically from 'off' mode, and HP Auto-Off Technology, which
automatically adjusts the power settings and turns the printer off when
there is no print activity. With these, the P1102w can save up to 72
percent on energy costs versus its predecessor. Brooks says it's also
another feature unavailable from the competition.
Also featuring the Auto-On/Auto-Off capability, the HP LaserJet Pro
P1606dn Printer ($229, replacing the P1505) provides Ethernet
networking, automatic two-sided printing and fast print speeds. The HP
LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP Printer ($199) offers print, copy, scan and
fax, Ethernet connectivity and an easy-to-use control panel. Initial
reviews have been very positive, says Brooks.
The company’s first portable scanner, the Scanjet Professional 1000
($249) weighs 1.4 pounds, and features HP Instant-on Scanning
Technology and doesn't need batteries or an AC adapter. It can quickly
scan two-sided documents in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, from
embossed cards to long forms, and save them in different file formats.
Brooks says the scanner, which is powered off the PC, is causing a lot
of excitement, representing an untapped market for HP.
The P1102w and P1606dn printers and the Scanjet 1000 are available now, while the MFP is due out next month.
Brooks says it's important for HP to ensure it has a good value
proposition with its customers and the channel. "We need to continue to
innovate and provide differentiators from our competitors who lead on
price. New features like Smart Install and the Auto-On/Auto-Off
capability… have real value to our customers and our partners are
excited too."
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Hewlett-Packard 
