At the company’s annual Imaging and Printing Conference event in New York last week, HP unveiled their latest strategy “for making printing relevant and empowering” as the market for both personal and professional content continues to explode and increasingly moves from the desktop to the Web.
HP’s Executive VP for Imaging and Printing, Vyomesh Joshi, outlined a 3-tiered plan describing how HP will look to capture a significant share of what is estimated to be a $296 billion market by 2010.
– Make it easier to print from websites, such as blogs and travel sites, and bring new printing capabilities to online properties;
– Extend the company’s digital content creation and publishing platforms – for example, Snapfish and Logoworks – across customer segments spanning from consumers to enterprises; and
– Deliver a digital printing platform that increases print speeds and lowers the cost of printing for high-volume commercial markets.
Also unveiled at the event was HP’s new In-House Marketing Resource Center software. This software package is specifically designed to help small businesses improve marketing effectiveness and productivity. This free tool provides users with convenient desktop access to all of HP’s in-house marketing resources and new specialized tools for “greater cost savings, flexibility and control” of their printed promotional and marketing materials. The HP Print Cost Estimator is a part of this package – a tool that quickly highlights the cost advantages of printing specific jobs in-house versus outsourcing. HP has made this software/service package available on networked HP Color LaserJet printers. Another piece of Resource Center is the HP Print View Software that enables customers to view the actual output of marketing documents before they hit print.
The new HP Color LaserJet CP3505 will be the first printer to ship with these marketing software tools and resources. HP explained that, “the printer is designed to boost productivity and deliver bold, brilliant color materials at speeds of up to 22 pages per minute in best print quality default mode.” The HP Color LaserJet CP3505 will be available worldwide this month with estimated MSRP of $699 to $1,449 – depending on the specific package.
Also part of the In-House Marketing Resource Center is HP’s Logoworks (a company HP purchased late last year) as they have teamed with Office Depot to develop what they are jointly calling Design, Print & Ship Depot – offering customers custom logo packages, business cards, professional letterhead and website design services. Customers can choose from a number of graphic design solutions all aimed at helping their businesses succeed. The service is currently available in Office Depot’s more than 1,000 stores nationwide and online at www.officedepot.com.
The HP Imaging and Printing Conference was also big on helping the imaging industry communicate better with their most important target market, moms. The company outlined out a 3-pronged attack in this area citing their recently unveiled online community for picture-taking moms dubbed PhotoSpace; their PMA Mommy Cast event that provided a live report from the PMA show each day targeted to what was happening at the show that would appeal to moms; and their nationally run Mom Mixer events that bring moms together to a specific imaging retail location for a day of digital imaging fun and education. The company is holding over 1,500 such events in 2007 throughout the U.S.
HP’s Larry Lesley, Senior VP Digital Photography, closed the event and highlighted how serious HP is about their play in the imaging retail space by stating, “Our biggest competitors are Kodak and Fuji and they are trying to stop us at the gates…but we will not be stopped.” Look for a one-on-one interview with HP’s Larry Lesley in an upcoming issue of Picture Business.
