Not long ago, Xerox was the pioneer and undisputed market leader of digital printing in India. According to Balaji Rajagopalan, executive director, technology, channels and international distributor operations, “Xerox India commands 60% repeat business and gives top priority for products targeted towards the small and medium business units who handle over 80% of the digital printing volumes in India.” Nevertheless, Xerox’ market share of production printers has waned as the company has moved into document and data management.
Despite its increased emphasis on data management, Xerox has not lagged behind in launching new digital presses and wide format inkjet printers. It launched the wide format IJP 2000 and the Xerox 570 at Print Expo 2014, held in Chennai from 18 to 20 April 2014. The new wide formatIJP 2000 targets the growing demand for large indoor posters,signage, point-of-purchase graphics with increased speeds.
Mid segment workhorse
In October 2014, Xerox launched the Versant 2100, a mid segment offering that scores over competition in duty cycle, speed, paper width, substrates and image and color addressability – all key areas of comparison by print shop owners. It accepts a wide range of substrates including coated, uncoated, bright, glossy, commercial and textured paper, PET films, linen, cotton and even thick packaging boards. Both A4 and A3 size paper is accepted comfortably and the maximum sheet size is 330 mm x 488 mm nearly 2 inches bigger than the A3 size in both dimensions. It has a high speed of 100 prints a minute for A4 sheets above 52 gsm, nearly 30% faster than its mid-segment competitors and 44 A4 pages a minute for 301 to 350 gsm A3-sized packaging paper boards. It has a high duty cycle of 660,000 prints targeting printers that handle an average of 1 lakh to 2.5 lakhs prints a month.
Xerox also launched the Color C60 and C70 production presses at the Print Miracle Expo 2014 held in Kochi from 12 to 14 December 2014. Xerox says that this printer gives users a cost-effective option for a wide range of printing needs. The fight for the mid-segment is getting tougher with Canon’s launching of its new models and both Ricoh and Konica Minolta upping their offerings. With over a dozen new models in the fray these four companies are expected to enter into an all out fight for market share in 2015.
