Lexmark “takes a hit” in printer supplies war

US printer supplies firm Lexmark is suffering in the inkjet cartridges price war, after revealing major disappointment with its second quarter results.

As revealed by Larry Dignan on a ZDNet.com blog, the battle for supremacy in the printer supplies market is not going Lexmark’s way, following reports of its lower operating income for consumer sales.

"This shortfall is primarily due to less than expected inkjet supplies revenue, lower hardware average unit revenue driven by aggressive pricing and promotion, some greater than expected product costs, and greater than expected branded inkjet unit growth," said Lexmark in a statement.

Mr Dignan goes on to highlight what he sees as the major thorn in Lexmark’s side in the race to become the number one printer supplies brand.

"Surely, part of Lexmark’s problems can be summed up in two letters – HP," he comments. "HP has more scale and can squeeze Lexmark margins on printers."

He concludes by suggesting that it may be too early to call a full-blown printer supplies and inkjet "price war", but insists that the trend in the consumer market might spread to enterprises.

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