I'm more surprised that they are making 3 billion in profits from the printer business! I'd be even more surprised if non-corporate customers were a big chunk of that. Anecdotal, but no one I know wants to buy a HP printer due to them not actually owning the printer, since any arbitrary DRM can be pushed on to the printer disabling its features.
I can see printing as a service be successful, since a large chunk of non-corporate users would prefer not to own a printer(and maintain it regularly), but outside of big cities it is a challenge to provide this service reliably.
Yeah I’m with you. I will never buy an HP printer, over my dead body. That said, I did recently buy a Canon printer before I realized it’s literally an exact copy of an HP printer without the forced toner subscription model of HP. Maybe they’re making money that way, licensing printer deaigns to other brands. HP, the Luxottica of printers.
I will never buy an HP printer with my own money ever again. Kyocera and Brother make decent laser printers that don't do all the weird stuff HP printers do, like reach out over the internet to get new software without asking.
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 24.2 ms ] threadI can see printing as a service be successful, since a large chunk of non-corporate users would prefer not to own a printer(and maintain it regularly), but outside of big cities it is a challenge to provide this service reliably.