Xerox Goes After Different Market with Phaser 8860

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 09, 2007 – Xerox Corporation released a new printer, the Phaser 8860, on September 24th with a large amount of attention from the media and the office supplies community.  Upon the release of the printer, there was much speculation as to why Xerox created the printer so close to the release of another one of their printers, the Phaser 8560, which was released June 18.  Speculators further puzzled about why the Phaser 8860 was produced with the same printing speeds as the 8560, as well as the same solid ink printing technology.

However, Xerox executives made it clear that they weren’t attempting to replace the Phaser 8560, but rather creating a palatable version for a more demanding market. The new printer is priced at $2,500-4,000, which is about $1,000 more than other Xerox printers with similar functions, according to IDC research group Vice President Angele Boyd. "It's clear when you look at the price that the target is not every color user out there," she said.  Still, Xerox is being careful to delicately balance the printer’s higher price point with by heavily advertising its low printing costs.  "If you compare HP color toner to what our inks will be, we will be one-fifth the price," said Xerox VP Jim Rise. The company boasts printing costs of .05 per page in color using proprietary solid ink technology.

Other industry experts agree that Xerox is branching out. Analysts at the Supplies Guys, the online toner retailer that was the first to break the story of the Phaser 8860’s pending release (http://www.prleap.com/pr/93584/), believe that the printer is an effort by Xerox to appeal to a market with high print volumes.  “The initial price of the printer is prohibitive to many small offices,” said a Supplies Guys representative, “but they’re being careful not to cannibalize their corporate color laser sales. They want to bring color capability to mid size businesses - businesses that will be willing to trade a higher initial investment for lower fixed costs.”

Even given Xerox’s purportedly lower printing costs offered by the Phaser 8860, Supplies Guys representatives insist that the cost of color printing is still inflated. “Shocking costs comparisons have been made concerning printer ink and toner, such as that toner costs more than human blood, which is just ridiculous,” he said.  “It shouldn’t cost that much under any circumstances.”  The company offers its own solution: compatible ink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatible_ink), which claims comparable quality and lower costs.  And, company officials say, while they don’t yet have access to compatible ink for the Phaser 8860, when they do it is bound to bring the cost of printing well below Xerox’s touted $.05 per page. “Unfortunately, we can’t help people with the high cost of the printer itself.”

Those interested in learning more can visits The Supplies Guys page dedicated to Phaser 8860 ink and related products at http://www.suppliesguys.com/phaser-8860-ink.htm or Xerox's Phaser 8860 page at http://www.office.xerox.com/printers/color-printers/phaser-8860/enus.html