Epson launches new inkjet printers

Printing company Epson on Friday launched their new line of inkjet printers in Kolkata that, with its cheap cost per page claim, aims to wrestle back the home and small business market which is increasingly leaning towards laser technology.

Designed especially for the Southeast Asian countries, the L100 and L200 printers are being introduced in India after a late 2010 foray in similar value-conscious markets in the region, Epson India Deputy General Manager, Consumer Product Group, S M Ramprasad said.

The devices, billed as the world's first branded ink tank system printers, introduce a new technology of storing ink in 70 ml bottles instead of traditional 5 ml cartridges that increase efficiency and save on printing costs like no other printer before, he said.

"There's a misconception that for small offices and homes, if you are doing lot of printing, laser printers help save on costs by bringing down the price per page. However, this new line of printers promise costs that rival even the most economical laser printers," Ramprasad said.

"Besides offering a price-per-page as low as Rs 0.10 for black-and-white prints and Rs 0.20 for colour prints, these new technology printers also provide a better experience and more control to the user with the transparent and easy to service ink tanks," he said.

The company said that the printers' ink-tank technology would "render inconsequential" the non-genuine cartridge market, which has a great hand in printer spoilage, and also offer a more eco-friendly alternative to more power consuming laser devices.

While the Epson L100 printer is priced at Rs 8,999, the L200, which also acts as a copier and scanner, is priced at Rs 10,999. Both printers come with four 70 ml bottles of ink, sold separately at Rs 374, of black, and three colours.

Epson, which is the second largest seller of inkjet printers in India after HP, hopes that the new range of devices will help it bolster its 30 percent share in the category that accounts for about 60 percent of India's Rs 1.5 billion printers´ market.

(Reporting by Divyanshu Dutta Roy)