Gartner Says Worldwide Printers, Copiers and Multifunction Products Shipments to Increase 8 Percent in 2005

Analysts Say Color Products Will Be Key Growth Segment for the Industry

STAMFORD, Conn., August 17, 2005 — Worldwide printer, copiers and multifunction products (MFP) shipments are projected to surpass 124.7 million units in 2005, a 7.8 percent increase from 2004 shipments, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide revenue for these products is forecast to surpass $59.7 billion, up 4.5 percent from last year.

Gartner analysts said manufacturers are focused on transitioning their customers from monochrome devices to color. The color laser printer market and the color laser MFP segments will be the high growth areas.

"Vendors need a broad family of color products to replace the large installed base of monochrome printers, copiers and MFPs," said Peter Grant, research vice president in Gartner's Digital Document and Imaging group. "The monochrome to color transition will be a significant event, as large vendors fight to keep their installed base, while other vendors look to grow their business with color offerings."

Less than 6 percent of the pages printed in the office are color pages. While the color segment offers promising opportunities, manufacturers face the challenge of getting corporations to transfer to color devices.

"Businesses are concerned about the high cost per page for color, and they worry about losing control of high printing costs when migrating to color," Mr. Grant said. "Color is still a 'nice to have' feature, versus a 'need to have' option for many companies. However, photographs, color charts, graphics imaging, and the Internet are driving the need to print in color. Many documents lose their impact and message if they are not printed in color."

In the consumer segment, digital photography is driving demand for color devices. "Higher resolution cameras, more sophisticated users, and the desire to print in the home have many manufacturers improving their product offerings to provide easier to use, faster photo printers, and lower prices," Mr. Grant said.

Worldwide sales of printer, copiers and MFPs will continue steady growth through 2009. By the end of 2009, worldwide shipments are forecast to surpass 148.9 million units, while revenue will exceed $60.7 billion.

Additional information is available to subscribers of Gartner's Digital Documents and Imaging Worldwide program. This program provides insight into the market dynamics driving the document management input and output devices including, copiers, printers, facsimile machines, multifunction products, scanners, digital cameras and related software. The program delivers forecasts by major geographies, as well as detailed market trends and analysis.