HP to start a printer price war?

Post-Fiorina, executives vow to get agressive on pricing of inkjet printers, other products. Move's likely to hurt Lexmark, analysts say.

The story "HP to start a printer price war?" published February 17, 2005 at 4:04 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[Dachi]

Dell planned this.

It is no secret that HP uses large profit margins in the printing business to support more competitive pricing in the PC business. If I am not mistaken this was a driving reason for Dell's entry into the printer market.
It was Dells goal to create a printing price war to force HP to make more of its profits on PC sales (raise prices).

[bobby_brady]

Move likely to hurt HP too

Come one now, move will hurt HP too, not just Lexmark! Let's not do bias reporting.

Brilliant

HP is already in a price war they can't win with Dell. Dell is going to eat their lunch in printers. Lexmark and HP will be distant memories

http://www.ceoscope.com/

[Razzl]

scorched earth economics...

It's always a fearful sight to watch the corporations in our capitalist system allow themselves to be stampeded by the demons of competitive logic over cliffs of their own making. As one who shopped for a printer/fax/scanner/copier over the last year I was amazed at how cheap the HP machines were for what they could do--to engage in a price war to make them any cheaper will permanently commoditize printing appliances, driving everyone from the market except the Asian factories that can copy the technologies and manufacture for Walmart prices. Since this is already happening with the PC's that make up the other half of HP's business, there will be nothing left to justify the enterprize and shareholders will have no better strategy than to cash it out, as the article suggests. The idea that an enterprize which required decades of effort and human capital to create would be dissolved in order to produce the shareholder profit may be pure, crystalline capitalist economic theory, but it also gives credence to Marx's condemnation of the wastefulness of capitalism. Ongoing enterprises are better for societies, where people grow in their knowledge and are able to contribute to the economy throughout their lifespans rather than being exchanged for dividends...