Lexmark getting out of inkjet printers – Possibly

When you talk to people about printers, and what ones they own, Lexmark is usually a typical response.  When you ask them why they bought it, most of the time, the reason is the price.  Lexmark is well known for making cheap printer.  Cheap to buy, but not good printers or cheap to own printers.  Lexmark is on average, the most costliest printer to own over it’s life span.  However, if the resent financial reports mean anything, Lexmark will be exiting the inkjet printer business stage left.

2nd quarter revenue was down 6%.  While their business side grew by 4%, the consumer side was down 21%, which they blame on a slowing pace in the inkjet market.  They also announced they are closing a big factory in Mexico and moving it to a cheaper country.

Rumors are that Lexmark highered a consulting firm that more or less told them to get out of the inkjet printer market or find a way to make it profitable.

Lexmark has yet to produce a single product that I would recommend to a customer or a business.  Yes the printers are cheap, but that is not where the cost are.  Their consumables are the worst on the market and not to mention the most costly.  Their quality and ink lag behind the likes of Canon, HP, and Epson.  And the life span of their products is dismal.

For Lexmark to get out of the inkjet printer industry would be a silent blessing.  Consumers might get mad at the fact there are fewer cheap printers, but you need to look at printers in the long run, not the short hall.  Unless Lexmark makes a dramatic turn around in the quality of their products, they should be done with inkjets in about 2 years, I think.