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HP and Samsung partner on a new mobile print offering

Off the heels of the big Samsung smartphone launch in New York, Hewlett Packard / HP unveiled a new print offering built within select Samsung devices to provide users a way to print directly to more than 180 HP network printers.

The partnership with Samsung is part of HP’s investment in mobile and on-demand printing that started with HP’s ePrint. The Palo Alto, California-based technology giant said that this new print offering differs from current mobile printing apps on the market because the new embedded solution from HP and Samsung requires no setup, tools, drivers or network configurations to adjust on the phone.

The HP/Samsung mobile printing app also offers printer settings and options that you would find inside an office such as duplex printing, color, orientation and paper type.

Print functionality is supported with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and will be available later this year as a firmware upgrade to the Galaxy S III and Note II, enabling built-in, wireless printing compatibility.

According to HP, users can print by automatically connecting the Samsung mobile device and HP printer on the same local network or through Wi-Fi, or by using HP’s wireless direct print solution.

Stephen Nigro, senior vice president, Inkjet and Printing Solutions and Graphics Solutions Business, Printing and Personal Systems Group at HP, said this partnership with Samsung is the latest example of how HP is making it easy to print what you want from wherever you are.

The built-in print solution works in three steps: first choose a document, photo or Web page; select a printer (either on Wi-Fi or directly); and hit print. The embedded solution also offers additional print options including number of copies, paper size, paper type, color mode and job completion status.

The print solution is compatible with nearly 200 HP printer models across the HP inkjet and HP LaserJet printers.

The built-in print button will be available on many applications of the Samsung mobile devices, including: Email Client, Android Browser, Photo Gallery, Contacts, S Note and Polaris Office.

Source: HP and Samsung partner on a new mobile print offering

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Hewlett Packard / HP and Xerox Raise Prices on Selected Supplies

Hewlett Packard /HP and Xerox recently announced price hikes on selected consumables.

As of April 1, HP will be increasing prices on 67 large-format inkjet supplies by 5%. A letter from HP states that the increases are "part of HP’s normal portfolio management process," which is essentially what the manufacturer says every time it raises prices on products.

Pricing is increasing on the HP 80 ink tanks and print heads, the HP 82 ink tanks, the HP 90 tanks and print heads, the HP 72 ink tanks and print heads, the HP 70 tanks and heads, the HP 82 cartridges, and a handful of other selected SKUs. This latest increase follows a similar pricing action on September 3, when HP increased pricing on over 80 Designjet ink inks by 2.5% to 20%.

Xerox is also raising their prices on selected legacy supplies as of April 1, 2013. Xerox is raising prices on approximately 80 consumables, including toner cartridges and solid ink sticks for Phaser and some WorkCentre printer models that are several years old. The price increases we saw ranged from approximately 2.9% to 5.6%.

Both rounds of price increases are good news for the aftermarket and risky for the OEMs now that high-quality third-party solutions are widely available. Of course, the aftermarket is not immune to pricing pressure of its own. It is generally reluctant to take such pricing actions, however, because of the relentless price competition in this market.

2013 Price Increases Are Narrower, More Targeted

In 2012, almost every printer OEM raised supplies pricing. Hewlett Packard / HP and Lexmark kicked off the charge in December 2011, with announcements that they would each raise supplies prices as of January 1. Where these firms tread, many followed. Many of the price increases were broad, although some OEMs raised prices more sharply on legacy SKUs.

So, when HP and Lexmark closed 2012 by telling partners once again that they would raise consumables prices starting in the new year, we felt a sense of déjà vu and speculated that others would soon follow. Now that appears to be happening.

Thus far, this year’s increases have been more selective. For example, HP raised pricing only on 49 LaserJet accessories and long-life consumables such as fusers. Lexmark’s price increases were broader, affecting its entire lineup of inkjet supplies, with the lone exception of the high-yield 105XL tank. Lexmark’s decision, however, was undoubtedly driven by its decision to exit the inkjet space and its need to capitalize on its failed investment in this business while it still can.

Now, HP and Xerox are increasing selected inkjet cartridges, toner cartridge and ink stick pricing for legacy printers.

OEMs’ profit margins decrease over time on legacy supplies as the installed base of hardware dwindles, demand plummets, and the aftermarket increases its share of the replacement supplies market. Meanwhile economies of scale are harder to maintain and production costs increase as cartridges for legacy products are needed in smaller volumes. It seems that not only OEMs but aftermarket suppliers felt the need to adjust pricing to compensate for flagging margins on supplies for older hardware.

Source: Actionable Intelligence

HP Inkjet's Technology Aids Drugs Produciton

PopSci discusses the Hewlett Packard's work on transferring inkjet technology into a pharmaceutical arena, with its Direct Digital Dispenser, or HP D300. The machine, 10 years in the making, utilises printhead technology from the HP's inkjet machines to help scientists and researchers create new medications for use in healthcare.

Noting that scientists at Astra Zeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and SIGA Technologies have already been using the machine, PopSci adds that the latter company has already developed an experimental medication to be given to people diagnosed with smallpox "too late for a vaccine to help".

The technology stems from the Officejet Pro X’s printhead, which contains 42,240 nozzles that jet out inkjet drops of six picoliters each. HP realised that the technology could be adapted, and wanted to aid the pharmaceutical processes used to make new medicines. Joe Dody, Business Manager of Speciality Printing Systems for HP, stated that the company "imagined the application and we worked with customers to convince ourselves and the industry that we were creating value in doing it".

Dody added that his department "gained support from HP to make a business out of it", and thus research began, with the process of titration – whereby droplets of chemical compounds are dropped onto slides with pipettes – the area in which the machine comes into operation. Such a process requires "weeks and months of painstaking repetition and recording" as well as a large "margin for human error", which the D300 aims to prevent.

Dody added: "A researcher applies between 200,000 to a million drops of the compound to test against the disease target and they hope that 10,000 are actually hits. Then they can determine what’s common between molecules and what’s the dose at which these drug molecules are causing a positive interaction with disease."

This process means that 95% of the work can end up wasted, take up 10-15 years and cost billions of dollars, and Dody adds "that is where we come in", with the D300 allowing biologists to place drops of compound into the machine, which deposits it as it would ink onto a page. With 13 picoliter droplets, the machine can help scientists figure out “which concentration works” with a high degree of accuracy".

The article notes that much trial and error was experienced before the D300 was able to be used in a laboratory, with a silicon treatment needed to stop the compounds "drooling", a job a sponge would often do in an inkjet cartridge. Two solutions were found, with one finally used that utilises an "inert firing chamber" and prevents "cross contamination".

Dody stated that "it took us about a year to figure it out" and that "if you did not find a solution you would have to make a hard business decision or scrap the project […] the stakes were high". He added: "The scale of our core printing business allows us to make a refined tool at a cost that is cheap to (drug companies). This is the first time the world has a reliable way to dispense at the picoliter level."

Source: HP uses inkjet tech to aid medication production

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