Tech invasion

TECHNOLOGY: HP, Canon devise and revise strategies for expansion.

With an eye on expansion, Hewlett-Packard and Canon have renewed their individual strategies to break into the consumer and small and medium businesses (SMB) segment in India.

HP, the market leader that shipped five times more laser printers in Asia Pacific than its nearest rival, is ready to take on the SMBs in India with its comprehensive line-up of printing and imaging solutions.

Announcing the expansion of its laserjet portfolio, HP has introduced several new models in multifunction printers (MFPs) and single function laserjet printers along with monochrome all-in-one (AiO) and a colour single function laserjet printer "" all priced between Rs 14,000 and Rs 30,000.

According to Janice Lim, director of HP's Imaging and Printing group (APAC and Japan), HP foresees robust growth in the SMB segment while IT spend of enterprises might see a decline.

She points, "Of the total IT spend ($171 billion) in APAC and Japan, SMBs now account for almost 58 per cent with enterprises moving down to 42 per cent."

HP recently shipped over 100 million laser printers worldwide, which in effect means that one HP laser printer was sold every four seconds in the past 22 years.

"We have an exhaustive portfolio of business printing solutions in India, with a whopping market share of 75 per cent," claims Adrian Koch, senior vice president (Personal Systems Group).

HP reckons that medium businesses have shown a near 100 per cent PC and printer penetration, so it is the smaller businesses that would drive the future growth with customised printing solutions.

Lim adds, "There is a need for high speed printing solutions by SMBs, and HP's 'instant on' is the answer. We will also begin incorporating digital sender technology (similar to a fax machine that scans the document and emails it to one/many recipients instead of sending a hard copy) in our MFPs and AiOs."

Another corporate that is trying to reach out to consumers in a big way is Canon. The company is gunning to claim a 20 per cent share in the digital camera business and aspires to touch the Rs 500 crore mark by 2007.

Recently, Alan Grant, president and CEO, Canon India announced the launch of 51 new products (including cameras, printers, scanners, copiers, camcorders, AiOs and MFPs).

According to Grant, countries like Vietnam, India, China and Thailand have been high growth regions for Canon. "In India, we hope to grow at 30 per cent annually," he says.

Alok Bharadwaj, vice president, Canon India, too, is looking forward to expanding its retail footprint. "We have signed up with 35 retail chains, and by 2007 we will extend our partnership to 45 such chains," he says. The company is also planning to grow the number of retail outlets to 442 from the existing 227 by 2007 end.

Bharadwaj shares, "Canon India will spend Rs 30 crore for various brand building initiatives, that will target audiences through various customer touch points."