Sounds like you could summarize it: We found that our competitors were eating our lunch in the super low end market, and so decided to cut anything and everything from the printer that could be without rendering it inoperative. This saved us $5, and we're not passing the savings on to you, but at least when people want to buy a $25 printer, we have something on the shelf that cannibalizes - er - capitalizes on our waning brand. -Adam On 11/14/06, Russell McMahon wrote: > I've just bought an old HP 1125C A3 printer via auction for occasional > A3 printing use. > Found this HP q&A page which is far funnier (or is that sadder?) in > places than I'm sure HP meant it to be. > > > People may find it interesting to translate these answers into what HP > are really saying or thinking. > I've offered some [[suggestions]] which may, of course, be incorrect. > > > Russell.. . > > ______________ > > Selected q/a's > > http://h41131.www4.hp.com/fi/fi/pr/FIfi17072000000057.html > > ... > > 2. Why is the HP DeskJet 1125C only offered in Europe and the > Asia-Pacific? > We believe the affordability of the HP DeskJet 1125C will be less > compelling in the US, as there will be stronger preference for product > features and benchmark performance over price. > [[We can sell the dearer better profit margin printer well enough in > the US where the buyers have more money and are less value > discerning.]]. > > 6. Who are you targeting with the HP DeskJet 1125C? > The HP DeskJet 1125C is targeted at SBSOs and Home Office users. They > are likely to have direct connect to a PC or to be in a workgroup, > sharing the printer among 2-5 users. > [[ BUT - see 24 below. Interesting.]] [[How much can a network > connection cost the maker as a % of all up out-the-door printer cost, > once you've implemented it?]][[Is there a darker motive here? Probably > not.]]. > > > 8. How often does the target customer print in A3 size? > Research indicates that about 10% to 20% of the output printed by HP > DeskJet 1125C users in the small business market segment would be on > media larger than A4/letter size. The remaining 80% of output would be > on A4/letter size media. > [[We hope you'll print A3 far far more now than you thought you > would]]. > > 11. How is the HP DeskJet 1125C different from the HP DeskJet 1120C > series of printers? > The HP DeskJet 1125C is an enhanced product offered to customers at a > lower price relative to the HP DeskJet 1120C. The enhancements include > Mac support, USB hardware interface as well as support for major > operating systems such as Windows 98, 2000 and Me. > [[More bells, less whistles]]. > > > On Print Quality: > 13. Why does the HP DeskJet 1125C offer only HP PhotoREt II and HP > ColorSmart II technologies, rather than benchmarks such as HP PhotoREt > III and HP ColorSmart III? > HP's product strategy and design philosophy is to provide innovative > products with relevant features at an optimum price to satisfy > customer needs. HP PhotoREt II offers brilliant photo-quality printing > on any media, realistic, natural-looking photos, fast color printing > and clear, sharp and vibrant color output. HP ColorSmart II, > introduced in 1997, evaluates pages automatically and adjusts colors > to maximise vividness and clarity. These sophisticated color > technologies are more than sufficient to meet the needs of our target > customers. > [[We could have done it, but we think that we can force buyers who > want really decent quality to buy the dearer model]]. > > > Cost-per-page: > 17. What is the cost per page for this printer? > For black and white printing on plain A4/letter size paper (5% page > coverage), the average cost per page (US$) is approximately 3 cents > while printing a color page (15% page coverage) costs approximately 7 > cents. > [[ Yeah. Right!]]. > > > 21. Is the ink light fast? > There are varying degrees of lightfastness. The inks used in the > DeskJet 1125C are designed to be lightfast in indoor lighting for up > to six months. > [[No !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Are you stupid!!!! ?? ]][[It must take REALLY > clever chemists to design an ink this bad]]. > > > 24. Why are we disabling network support for the China market? > Our research indicates that network support is not a key feature that > our target customers in the China market will desire. As such, we have > not provided this feature for our customers there. > [[See 6. above ]]. > > > 34. Do I need special paper to get photo quality printouts? > With the smaller ink drop sizes and increased color intensities per > dot enabled by HP PhotoREt II, the HP DeskJet 1125C provides excellent > print quality on any media. However for special occasions, users may > prefer to use special media such as HP Premium Inkjet Paper and HP > Premium Photo Paper to produce the best print quality that the printer > is capable of. > [[ Absolutely !!!!]]. > > > > 38. Why is it that a printer cable is not included? > Many customers already have a printer cable of their own while others > may require a longer or shorter cable than what HP provides. HP is not > including a printer cable with the HP DeskJet 1125C as customers would > have to pay for something that they may not use. > [[ We're cheap.]] > > > 39. Almost every printer manufacturer is bundling software with their > printers. Why isn't HP doing this for the HP DeskJet 1125C? > Application software today have such a wide-ranging array of features > that bundling specialised software with printers no longer add value > to our customers. In addition, softwares keep getting upgraded > quickly, diminishing the value of bundled software very quickly. > [[ We're cheap.]] > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Moving in southeast Michigan? Buy my house: http://ubasics.com/house/ Interested in electronics? Check out the projects at http://ubasics.com Building your own house? Check out http://ubasics.com/home/ -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist