MFPs, print devices hold up in tough EMEA market

Peter Dinham
Sunday, 13 September 2009 13:49

IT Industry - Market

Vial’s IDC colleague, Leigh Worthing, predicts that, in the short to medium term, the increasing prevalence of managed print service engagements being signed by print vendors will also add “significant momentum in driving several key industry trends, particularly print device consolidation, growth in the installed base of networked MFPs and higher levels of colour-capable devices deployed."

And, according to Worthing, the growth in managed print services is a significant industry phenomenon, especially within developed IT markets such as Germany, France, and the U.K., and “is itself being driven, at least in part, by the ongoing recession and frozen credit markets as organizations switch to the utility billing models that often require no large-scale upfront capital investments.”

Commenting on the significant potential for the increase in colour laser shipments across a number of the emerging markets in EMEA, IDC research director, Mitri Roufka, said that many of the largest markets in the CEMA region, such as Russia, Turkey, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, and the Czech Republic, are still far from saturation, “offering growth potential at 15.7 percent CAGR for colour laser devices in the next five-year period."

Roufka also pointed out that vendors have been working hard in these markets to educate end users about the business benefits of using colour, “a message that is certainly finding resonance with end users, particularly at a time when the prices of both colour devices and associated colour consumables are being driven down.”