Printers next growth engine for Samsung

BANGALORE: Samsung India has unveiled a series of printers for home, SOHO and corporate users in bid to increase its market share in the $135 billion printer business. The company announced the strengthening of its printer organization and the launch of seven new printer models.

“The printer business is the next growth engine for Samsung. (It) is extremely critical for growth momentum, “ said Uday Bhat, General Manager, IT division, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd.

The company is planning to double its printer sales from its current 110K units to 260K units, and aiming for a 26 percent market share from the current 12 percent. To support its new growth plans, Samung is doubling its manpower in the printer division and has created a new regional structure with regional sales managers. The company has also set up a corporate sales steam apart from its channel partners.

Samsung is also expanding its product range and channel partners to achieve its target growth of over 100 percent, this year according to Bhat and plans to establish ten brand shops in ten important cities in India.

From a starting price point of Rs 5,299 to Rs 42,499, the new ‘Printellingense’ range of printers are touted to be the smallest in the category with lowest printing cost, printers with USB direct print and scan functions, easy paper jam removal and onsite warranty.

The flagship of the new printer range is the ML 2245, targeted at SMBs, which has the Drum and the toner separate and is supposed to save 50 percent of the printing cost per page.

With a print speed of 22ppm and  a duty cycle of upto 8000 pages per month, the ML2245 is priced at Rs. 6,999/-. Another entry level addition to the Samsung Laser Printer range is the ML1640, with a print speed of 16ppm, 8MB internal memory and a maximum monthly duty cycle of up to 5,000 pages, is priced at Rs. 5,299/-.

The new addition to the Samsung Colour Laser Printer range: CLP 315 and CLP 310N, boast of a 360MHz processor with print speed of 4ppm in color and 16ppm in B&W. Powered by a 32MB internal memory, the CLP 315 and CLP310N (Network printer) are priced at Rs. 11,999 and Rs 15,499, respectively.