Death of printed page greatly exaggerated

PanARMENIAN.Net - The death of the printed page has been greatly exaggerated, and although print volume will remain relatively flat between 2010 and 2015 (0.1% CAGR), combined U.S. printer and multifunction peripheral (MFP) page volume will reach 1.2 trillion at the end of the forecast period, International Data Corporation (IDC) said in a press release.

According to IDC new research, MFPs are winning the print volume race as users move away from single function printers and embrace the benefits and flexibility of multifunction devices. "The transition to MFPs represents a fundamental industry trend, one that will continue for the foreseeable future," said Jonathan Bees, research director, U.S. Hardcopy Device Usage Trends. Total MFP pages are considerably larger in number than printer pages, and they are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 1.4% with total pages exceeding 857 billion in 2015.

Another ongoing industry shift is the move from monochrome to color devices. But while color laser and inkjet pages will each experience respectable growth over the forecast period, monochrome laser pages remain the industry's 800 lb. gorilla, with a staggering 799.9 billion pages in 2015 despite a declining CAGR. Overall, printed page volume will remain steady despite a myriad of obstacles, including the introduction of green initiatives within a growing number of enterprise organizations; more widespread managed print services engagements; changing end-user behavior patterns from young, digitally oriented workers; and a weak economy.

Indeed, the massive number of pages produced each year speaks to the opportunity for vendors and corporations to engage in Managed Print Service. MPS allows customers to reduce their total printing costs and to migrate inefficient business process document workflows to less-paper workflows.

Additional findings from IDC's print volume research include the following: the influx of shipments moving from low-end printers to MFPs, and from lower to higher speed MFPs, will lower MFP average monthly page volumes (AMPVs); The inkjet installed base is the largest of the three technology categories (monochrome laser, color laser, and inkjet); Color pages are showing solid growth, and are two to three times more profitable than monochrome pages.