A 7% Increase in Printer and Copier Market Discovered in Q2 2012

According to the research firm Gartner, the combined serial inkjet and page printers, copiers and multifunction products market in the United States totaled 7,150,202 units in the second quarter of 2012, a 6.8% increase over the same period last year. The total end-user spending reached $208.1 million USD, an increase of 35% from the same period last year as well.

According to Gartner Research Analyst Amrita Choudhury, "The MFP market growth here has been driven by the banking, financial services and insurance, education and government sectors." Choudhury went on to say that the market also gained some traction in the high speed segment, often used by large publishing houses or organizations to print their outbound communications. 

HP remained on top in the markets for printers, copiers and multifunction printers, accounting for 51.4% of shipments. Canon pulled in the number 2 spot with 23%, while Samsung and Epson rounded out the leaders with 8.3% and 8.1%, respectively. In the A4 MFP segment, HP was the market leader as well with a 48.2% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.7% and Canon with 13.7%. The A3 flatbed copier MFP segment saw Canon leading the pack with a 28.9% market share. Konica Minolta took the number 2 spot with 19.7% and Ricoh commanded 12.8% of the market. 

Not everything was positive, however, with the inkjet printer market declining 7.2% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. HP, which accounted for 50.8% of the total sales in the segment, also saw a decline of 23.6%. Epson held a market share of 30% and also had a shipment decline of 8.8%. Canon also improved shipments in the inkjet division by increasing by 136% compared to the second quarter of 2011, contributing 18.8% of market share.

Source: NDTV Gadgets - Printers and copiers market grows 7%: Gartner

Washington State Reimbursed $4 Million from Ricoh for Overcharges

Washington state government agencies will be receiving a $4 million windfall thanks to a settlement deal that was recently announced, requiring Ricoh Americas Corporation to pay back overcharges on copier services. The company has a $17 million per year contract with the state of Washington for supply of copiers and services, which is set to expire next April.

The review of the charges was ordered after an anonymous note gave the tip to the Washington Attorney General's Office back in 2009. The announcement was made by the State Department of Enterprise Services, which also announced the agreement with a news release on its website.

The $4 million settlement is based on samples of contract sales conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in response. In addition to that, it covers charges dating back to 2007 by Ricoh's subsidiary IKON Office Solutions, according to DES spokesman Steve Valandra. Ricoh purchased IKON and, according to Valandra, "stepped up and did the right thing" once the charges were noticed.

The $4 million will ultimately go back to state agencies and local governments that participated in the state's contract for copier services and were overcharged. According to Valandra, "What we will do over the next few months is see what agencies and local governments used the contract and how they were affected - and direct the money back to them."

Joyce Turner, Director of Enterprise Services, also stated, "We worked diligently to address the concerns and are pleased with the settlement agreement ... These negotiations and the process taken to bring this to resolution provide a model for government and industry working together to ensure that the taxpayers of Washington are best served."

Source: The Olympian - Ricoh to reimburse state $4M for copier overcharges

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Ricoh's New MP C2051 and C2551 Multifunction Devices

Ricoh has just unveiled a pair of new powerful devices that offer industry leading productivity as well as functionality while offering reductions in energy use at the same time. These new devices, known as the MP C2051 and MP C2551, offer key specification improvements and also offer many former options as standard along with some new accessories.

Some of the new key improvements that come with these devices include:

• An increase in RAM capacity from 768MB to 1.5GB, HDD from 60GB to 160GB


• Faster warm up times as well as faster recovery times out of sleep mode


• Leading Energy Star TEC levels


• Able to print PDF/JPEG/TIFF files from USB or SD card


• Scan from the device directly to your email

In addition to that, there are also some new features that have just become standard on these devices which include:

• Quota setting in order to provide User Account Volume Limits


• VM Card


• HDD Data Overwrite Security


• HDD Encryption

If you or your business is looking for a way to manage your printing and documents while saving time, money and resources all in a way that is eco-friendly, the combination of Ricoh's software, hardware, service and support should make for an excellent mix. Ricoh prides itself on providing complete solutions and the expertise needed to make sure every aspect of this part of your business is working at full capacity.

Optional software solutions are provided by Ricoh that are designed to assist you in managing your documents so you can capture, store, retrieve, deliver, revise and manage all of your documents easier.

Source: Office Product News - New MFDs improve functionality, reduce energy use

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Ricoh is the Number One Manufacturer in the U.S. Copier Market

Ricoh Americas Corporation, one of the leading providers of digital office equipment as well as advanced document management solutions and services, just announced that they have been ranked number one for the fourth straight year in the combined black and white and color copier segment according to Gartner's latest market share database.

Because of this, Ricoh has earned a 21.5% share of the total market for multi-function products (MFPs). Ricoh has also finished first for the eighth straight year in the color copier market with a 22.1% share. In the category for black and white copiers, Ricoh finished second with a 21.2% market share. These percentages are calculated using total market share. This includes dealer, direct and retail products.

According to Senior Vice President of Marketing for Ricoh Shun Sato, "Ricoh Americas Corporation is proud of our continued leadership position in the combined black and white and color copier market in the U.S. Our robust product offerings along with our industry-leading Managed Document Services approach provide our customers with the best solutions to help them meet their goals."

Ricoh offers a full line of digital imaging products suited for any work group environment. They offer everything including color and black and white multifunction copiers, printers, facsimile systems, scanners, digital duplicators, wide format copiers and digital cameras. Ricoh is also one of the leading providers of advanced document management solutions and services, specifically Ricoh's Managed Document Services (MDS) program. This focuses on total cost of ownership, business process improvement, security and compliance and environmental sustainability.

Source: PR NEwswire - Ricoh Ranks Number One in U.S. Copier Market

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Ricoh Aficio GX e555oN GelSprinter

Ricoh Americas Corporation has just introduced the new Ricoh Afficio GX e555oN, the latest addition to the company's GelSprinter line of color-inkjet printers. The e555oN is primarily designed for business environments and replaces the previous Aficio GX 505oN. The e555oN provides a high-quality and affordable replacement to laser printers where speed you need both speed and duplexing in order to meet high-volume demands.

Thanks to Ricoh's GelSprinter technology, the e555oN is able to utilize an enhanced viscous gel ink formula which delivers better performance in dry environments. The fast drying, waterproof properties of the ink meets the realization of published yields while simultaneously eliminating smudging, bleed-through and page curling.

While working in a high-volume atmosphere, you know that keeping up with demand wile maintaining high-quality results is extremely critical. The e555oN is network ready and supports workgroups with 30 pages-per-minuet in both black and white as well as full color. The device also has a quick 40 second warm up time and first print speeds of up to 5 seconds or less while being able to print up to 999 sets per job.

Print jobs flow seamlessly through the standard 250-sheet paper supply which has the ability to be expanded up to two 500-sheet paper feed units. To make productivity even better, the e555oN comes with standard automatic duplexing. Users can also save paper by printing on both sides at high-speed on plain paper. One key thing that has been enhanced on the e555oN over previous models is the device's use of bi-directional, motorized ink pumps that offer improved reliability and ink yields.

Some other necessary features include a tilting LCD control panel offering improved operability, the ability to capture counter data remotely with the option of Ricoh's intelligent remote management solution and support for the latest networking standards which includes Macintosh, hot-based and PCL 5c/6 printing support. The e555oN addresses many user's printing needs but it also helps businesses meet their environmental goals as well.

An improved Economy Color Mode produces crisp text as well as stunning graphics which helps to increase the longevity of supplies. The e555oN is ENERGY STAR Version 1.1 compliant and doesn't require any heat at all to operate. The device uses 38 watts during normal printing and only around 3.5 watts in Energy Saver Mode. To add more to the environmentally friendly image the e555oN is manufactured free of hazardous materials and produces 0 ozone emissions which results in a low carbon footprint as well as minimal impact on the environment.

According to Vice President of Office Printer Business Group with Ricoh Americas Corporation Matt Sakauchi, "Most businesses rely on laser printers to handle a lot of their document output needs. The GX e555oN with GelSprinter technology offers the speed and versatility of a laser printer in an affordable and reliable inkjet printing solution that not only produces outstanding color documents, but further demonstrates Ricoh's commitment to helping our customers become more environmentally friendly in their business practices."

The Aficio GX e555oN looks to be an all around solid device. It has the ability to print at fast speeds, is environmentally friendly and doesn't have a lot of unnecessary features tacked on to it. If your business is looking for a more affordable device than a laser printer, then check out Ricoh's e555oN.

Source: Office Product News

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