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HP: Rival Printers Mean No More HPs Through Dell
blamanj writes: "Dell Computer seems to have pissed off HP, with their intent to sell their own printers. HP will apparently stop supplying printers to Dell, even though the new Dell products are not yet shipping."
I know everyone is saying this is a bad move for HP and it very well may be but I think I see what they are doing. If Dell intends to produce their own printers why would they continue to purchase HP priinters in the future when it obviously will end up being far cheaper for them to manufactor and package their own. HP is trying to cut them off before they can do this and hurt them in computer sales when they won't be able to package anymore HP printers while going on with this. One of two things will happen, either Dell will get suckered into a big fat increase on HP printers or they will have to go with another manufactor. Either way its not that bad for HP because they can focus on supplying other vendors, theirselves included or they will get some additional revenue while hurting Dell. Business as usual.
Living in the Bay Area, I find the main trouble I see is that any attack on Fiorina's ideas or methods is immediately interpreted in some quarters as an attack against women in important roles (like CEO). Granted, some people do make things a gender issue ("that stupid bitch", etc), but it's frustrating to be grouped in with them when you try to make reasonable points. It's gotten to the point where I group her with politics and religion as things to avoid in friendly conversation.
No matter, though; I've sold my HP stock and I don't work there, so maybe my company will see a rise in business while HP starts to toss theirs. Still, it's always sad to see a company sunk by its PHBs.
PS: I think renaming the Compaq Center the "HP Pavillion" is probably the tackiest thing I've every heard. Fortunately, for the locals who care it'll always be the Shark Tank.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
>>Dell spokesman Mike Maher said his company would still sell HP branded printers that it purchases through distributors, but expressed dismay at HP's decision. "Frankly we're surprised that a company would make it harder for customers to get their hands on their products," he said.
No, it's not harder to get an HP printer, I can go to any of 1000 stores near me and pick one up quite easily, as can any number of new-computer buying people.
Dell is trying to muscle into HP's area, and this is how HP is responding. I'm not surprised at all...
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
Warranty, customer service .....
Dell has this weird policy of including a decent 1 year warranty as part of the package and offering extended warranties if you want them.
Best buy offers no meaningful warranty unless you pay extra for it.
According to this article from CNN, Dell's printer sales only account for 2 days worth of all of HP's printer sales for a year. So this isn't a major loss. Add to that, the fact that Dell will likely still by HP printers for some of its customer, just not directly from HP, and HP could potentially make MORE money off of Dell, depending on demand for the HP printers from Dell customers.
The warranty Best Buy and Circuit City "offer" for HP printers, is just HPs warranty. Which, if you buy at least a half-way decent printer is 12 months part/12 months labor.
Dell has this weird policy of including a decent 1 year warranty as part of the package and offering extended warranties if you want them
When you buy a HP/Sony/Compaq computer from Best Buy/Circuit City, it has a 1 year warranty as well, included from the manufacturer. All of the above brands include the ability of purchasing extended service contracts from the manufacturer, or, if you want, both of the stores also do as well. Same as Dell.
People seem to have this weird idea that the store they buy from dictates how long the original manufacturers warranty is and what it should cover.
The thing with printers it that the money to be made is in the ink cartridges and printer cables, and not the printers themselves. That's why HP's printer business is its most profitable one.
Casual Games/Downloads
This older article at CNet has a quote from HP saying "Dell's business represented an 'insignificant' portion of HP's total printing and imaging business, equal to only a few days' sales per year." For all of the posts saying HP is shooting itself in the foot, or are making a bad decision, ask yourself, what would you do if one of your partners, who sells your products, decided to make their own version of your product and sell that too? HP is making most of their money in the printing industry elsewhere, so why not drop Dell?
United States > TITLE 15 > CHAPTER 1 > Sec. 13. (e)
It shall be unlawful for any person to discriminate in favor of one purchaser against another purchaser or purchasers of a commodity bought for resale, with or without processing, by contracting to furnish or furnishing, or by contributing to the furnishing of, any services or facilities connected with the processing, handling, sale, or offering for sale of such commodity so purchased upon terms not accorded to all purchasers on proportionally equal terms.
I have it from a well-placed source in Dell that Lexmark is going to be making the printers that Dell is going to rebrand.
Since I buy all of my x86 servers from Dell and am familiar with their support structure, as are my desktop people, this may be an attractive alternative to HP if the printers are decent. I personally have little experience with Lexmark, tho they do have some nice looking management tools. With Dell's backing I'd be willing to give them a chance. Dell has always given me excellent support. Such as recently offering to take back the Itanium servers that were bought by a group at work and give a full refund due to Itanium being the huge dud that it was.
We recently replaced several of our HP 5si's with HP9000's, and boy are they pieces of shit! We've had nothing but problems with them. And they just feel flimsy as hell when you open them up and futz around with their guts. Guess HP's been doing too much corner-cutting. I regret that we got rid of the 5si's as they are solid printers.
NOT in a 'truly competitive market', but in a market with perfect competition, with commodity products. Printers are NOT a commodity product; brand preference plays an enormous part in this marketplace. Having worked in the industry, I can tell you that HP's brand carries incredible buyer preference. Did you know that CANON commercialized laser printer technology, and to this day manufactures the engine in every HP LaserJet sold? However, despite several attempts to launch their own line of standalone printers, they have never been successful. They've been locked out of the marketplace not by technology, but by insufficient brand presence.