Report: HP printers a hit in Iran

Hewlett-Packard printers, like blue jeans in the old Soviet Russia, are apparently a hot item among consumers in Iran.

According to a report in Monday's Boston Globe, a third-party distributor in Dubai has been selling HP printers in Iran since 1997. That's two years after President Clinton signed an order banning all trade with the country. If HP executives cut the deal with the Dubai company, called Redington Gulf, knowing it intended to sell HP products into Iran, the deal could be a violation of trade law, according to the Globe.

But did HP know what the small Dubai outfit was doing? As the Globe reported, the distributor's Web site says it began in 1997 "as a team of five people and...HP supplies as our first product, we started operations as the distributor for Iran." The article also quotes an HP executive in the late 1990s enthusiastically discussing sales in Iran.

Since it was started, Redington has grown considerably, and now sells high-tech equipment throughout the Middle East and Africa for a number of manufacturers, ranging from other hardware makers such as Cisco and IBM to software makers such as McAfee and Microsoft. "Today," the company's Web site says, "Redington is proud to be described as 'the brand behind brands' in the region."

An HP spokesman told CNET News that HP has "a policy of complete compliance with all US export laws."

The Globe story comes at a particularly sensitive time, with fighting once again escalating between Israel and Hamas forces in Gaza. The trade embargo against Iran was put into place by President Clinton in 1995 to force the country to stop funding militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and to pressure it to curb its nuclear program.

But scarcity -- or at least the knowledge that owning an HP printer is in some way taboo -- has had the opposite impact: It has made them highly desirable among Iranian consumers. By some accounts, HP has better than a 40-percent share of the Iranian printer market.

[stingray_5]

Good. Send all those POS HP printers over there!

[zbawic]

I've had three consumer HP printers - one DeskJet and two LaserJets. I also use commercial series at work. Haven't had a problem with any of them.

[Mr. Dee]

I have a Deskject 840c since 2000 and its been working reliably ever since, no problems ever.

[zmonster]

Why don't you report on the _fact_ that Dick Cheney's old company Halliburton happily sold engineering products and services to Iran for the past 30 years, and only in late 2006 did they 'cease operations' in the 'enemy' country of Iran.

[Astinsan]

Isn't a large company allowed to make mistakes? Seriously.. Like HP as a whole was on the same page as the cooperate sales office. Communication is impossible in a place like that. I can see if this was a small company like apple or gateway (if they exist still) ... hp is into everything from printing to microchips. Even Steve Woz worked for them at one time.

[BruinGuy]

Why would News.com cover anything that Halliburton does? This is not an engineering news site, it's a high tech news site. That's an ignorant comment.

[TommB1234]

Any opportunity to take a cheap shot.

[bakedpatato]

Better than Brother printers being sent over to Iran(I mean the cheapie ones, as the cheap ones will be expensive in Iran, on that note I've been using a cheap HP laser printer for 3 years on the original toner, in that period of time I've also owned 3 brother printers that all broke). Then they will hate the West even more :)

[chuchucuhi]

If I remember correctly I believe a lot of US products are sold in Iran that aren't supposed to be sold in Iran, many in the country like American products....at least someone does jeez.

[hmdz105]

What a POOR POOR article! What has HP sales got to do with funding Hamas? Do those bastard Arabs throw HP printers on Israelis? This kind of writing is just a big waste of time. Don't mess with the politics if you have no knowledge of it please CNET!

[solitare_pax]

These embargos are no good anyways - I see it has worked wonders at forcing Iranians and Cubans to behave the way we want. Meanwhile, foreign third parties are making big bucks selling items that could be sold by American distributors.

[gapeman]

And this is how companies in Dubai and Turkey make money! Iranians are buying whatever they need, but this time not from American distributors! US is actually helping the companies in the third countries make some easy money, that's all!

[humanssssss]

First, the embargo is a bad thing but if it's a trade law of the US, HP needs to follow and with this knowledge, HP need to stop selling HP printers to said distributor.

I wonder if this sales is what is improving HP revenue since Carly left. Mark Hurd is known to break the law to make a buck. HP should be punished.

Everyone needs to play by the same rule. If you break it, you pay the price. It's like a player on a poker table not putting money in the pot when he bet but insists he made the bet, and he ended up winning.

Don't cheat.

[2L2Q]

Thank God Iran is buying the HP printers otherwise these folks would be asking for bailout money too.....If American's were smart, they would be selling boatloads of these printers to Iran rather than doing an embargo...guess what, japanese and Korean would sell their products in a blink...the only one's benefiting are the 3rd party scum bags in Dubai and Turkey....Lets save the jobs here in US and export the products....we are already granting $6 Billion a year of free money to Israel and additional $6 billion in free F-16's to them and all we are getting is shame and humiliation in return...its time to re-estaliblish relation with the biggest and most important country in middle east to benefit our interests in the region and use them as an ally to diminish Soviet influence!!

[Mostafa-Gh]

HP known as a big company around the world, but it's very wonderful how they decided to do it.
anyway Iran is already boycotted by America but it made Iran more stronger during this 30 years.
right now Iran can make Airplane equipment, Modern Naval and ships, electronic devices and more...
it also shows zionism influence in American Gov. and medias, they trying to show with partial and prejudice that Iran is terrorist supporter, but the fact is what we seeing in Gaza now.
I hope for better relations between Iran and America.