“The fourth quarter of 2008 was a pivot point for the world economy, creating a very challenging selling environment for all printer, copier and MFP hardware and software providers. The rapidly deteriorating economic environment is forcing technology providers to look at their business models and make significant adjustments,” said Tosh Prabhakar, senior research analyst at Gartner.
According to Gartner, buyers reduced printer and MFU spending in light of low confidence in the market. Sales of consumer devices were down 9 per cent in 2008. In addition, businesses delayed product upgrades and/or cancelled investment in new office devices as budgets and cost containment policies became a priority.
The tough economic climate created a lot of caution and uncertainty among both consumers and businesses. Reduced credit availability for consumers, start-up businesses and small and medium businesses across all the European markets during the next 12 months will worsen the situation in the short term. It will also continue to have a detrimental impact on the consumer market during 2009, with similar declines expected.
Most vendors suffered in 2008. Hewlett-Packard remained market leader in the overall EMEA printer; copier and MFU market, but sales were down almost 11 per cent in 2008 for the company. Lexmark experienced the greatest unit losses during the year as the organization continued to lose market share as a result of it shifting its focus to the more profitable high-end workgroup space. Samsung Electronics posted the highest year-on-year market growth with a 16.3 per cent increase in 2008, which helped it maintain second position in the page market and narrow the gap on Hewlett-Packard.
Gartner predicted that the print market would continue to feel the pressure during the next 12 months, as the economic uncertainty worsens. The recovery should not be expected to start until early 2010.
Source: Gartner Inc.
Key words:Gartner, market, printers
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