[IP] more on printer ink cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne.

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+@ux13.sp.cs.cmu.edu
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 13:26:21 -0400
From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed@reed.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] printer ink cost more per millilitre than vintage champagne.
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I'm curious if IP readers think that the situation with printers and 
printer ink is any different than, for example:

	- video game consoles and game cartridges
	- cell phones and minutes
	- cameras, film, and developing services

In each case, the market has rewarded those companies who lower the entry 
cost, and raise the ongoing costs.   It's also true that there seems to be 
little lock-in to a particular printer - if you think the ink costs too 
much, it's really cheap to buy a new printer that uses cheaper ink.

On a technical point, for some manufacturers, the cartridge is actually 
more high tech and difficult to develop than the ink - with custom silicon 
VLSI in each cartridge and precision machining of very fine mechanical 
parts.   The printer is very little more than a box to hold the cartridge 
and move it around.   Perhaps it would make as much sense to argue that the 
cartridge is underpriced.



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