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To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (435)	5/16/2002 10:17:40 AM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4345

Inq on Ink by: skeptically 05/16/02 10:08 am Msg: 133706 of 133706 theinquirer.net EU to investigate pricing of printer inks Cash cow heading for slaughter? By Paul Hales, 15/05/2002 16:46:20 BST INK SELLERS - sorry, printer manufacturers - are to find themselves under investigation in the EU to establish whether between them they fix the price of ink cartridges sold in the Europe. The European Commission wants to discover whether the various ruses inkjet printer manufacturers, in particular, use to ensure users of their printers can't use alternative ink sources are anti-competitive. EU commissioner Mario Monti said he thinks, "there is probably a case here for us and I would assume also for the Americans." Monti told reporters in Brussles the inkjet cartridge market was very important for the economy in general yet needed investigation on behalf of "consumers who increasingly equip themselves with computers, printers and other devices. "We intend to look at this in detail," he said. Under particular scrutiny is likely to be Epson's practice of slipping a chip into ink cartridges to inhibit refills and jealously enforcing a patent on its ink cartridges to stop third party manufacturers form producing compatible cartridges. Consumers and sellers of refill kits welcomed the news. John McQuaigue CEO of the Uk biggest seller of compatible inks and refill kits MX2, told THE INQ the prices of refill cartridges were "nigh on extortionate." He rejected the manufacturers' claims that they spend millions on developing special inks for printers as exaggerated. "Ink is hardly rocket science," he huffed. µ theinquirer.net Lexmark contends for top junk printer title Cartridges cost more than printer By Adamson Rust, 03/05/2002 10:37:59 BST WHILE WALL STREET reported yesterday that Moody's Investor Services downgraded its estimate on Xerox' debt rating by three points, in the printing market there's junk and there's junk. For example, Lexmark now makes a colour inkjet printer that retails here in the UK for around £45, but if you buy two cartridges for the model, they will set you back twice the amount. The Z33 colour inkjet is listed at £45.82 including tax, but a quick comparison of prices shows black and colour cartridges costing around £23 or so each. There's better bargains about. A reader tells us Dixons sells a Lexmark printer for £18.99 which includes a colour cartridge but no black cartridge. If you buy the black cartridge, that will cost you £24.99.. So shouldn't Lexmark be giving away a new printer with cartridges, rather than the other way around? Consumables are the so-called "sweet spot" of printer manufacturers, but as now things have reached this stage, isn't it time for this lunacy to stop? Not that it will, of course, because the profits the printer manufacturers make on cartridges is as Winston Churchill said about another matter altogether, "a mystery wrapped in an enigma". In fact, the fat profits on the consumables obviously subsidise the the manufacturing of printers, and these days it's non too easy to buy a no-name replacement when your inkjet's piezo crystal or whatever stops working. Modern inkjet cartridges have chip technology built into them so that when they communicate with the printer and don't find the right codes, you can't use the clone products. It's not just Lexmark, of course, which indulges in this rather anti-green marketing of colour printers, just about the whole shooting match are up to similar tricks. µ * THERE ALREADY IS a Web site which gives away free Lexmark printers with the cartridges - check this page out. * AND SOME people seem to have got round the Epson cartridge problem, as you can see by going here. We're not sure Epson would approve at al