Re: Epson Ink carts
If other companies produced inks as good as the present Epson stuff, and those worked with the complicated printers, yes, that guaranteed income Judy mentions, would diminish. These people out here use the left over ink from spent cartridges so it's the genuine thing but does come from various ages. Theoretically the inks show their age whilst sitting in cartridges but pigmented inks, as most o you know, lie in suspension and a good round or shaking is helpful to maintain consistency in particular if you use one of the large printers like I do (24" - 40"). The caveat, I suppose, is the these 'mixed' inks might not be as supposedly consistent as are the original manufactured product. To me the prime point is reduction of waste and use of the product to its very end. Do we all squeeze that tube of toothpaste to the finite possibility? As for the 'other' printers, yes, they surely have become better. Like Toyota overtaking GM they have emulated the best of their ilk. Yet, what with the research, the new head and ink designs, and improved ICC profiles, the Epson products provide, IMO, extremely consistent and long-lived output and result. I have recently run well over 1200 20x24 prints through my 7800 w/zero problems, only one major head cleaning and perfect consistency . . . even after taking three months off for travel. Jack On November2007, at 6:52 PM, Judy Seigel wrote: On Mon, 5 Nov 2007, Trevor Cunningham wrote:The lovely thing about monopolies is that they usually end up chopping their own heads off. If anything, this opens a window of opportunity for other companies to create similar technology and level the playing field. In order to maintain their market share, Epson will have to keep prices low, or play ball.I've had the impression that (like they say -- was it Gillette that gave the razor free, or nearly free and made its profit on the blades ?) Epson sells its printers more or less at cost and makes its profit on the ink -- or did. But, incredible as it may seem, I know folks who claim to have made very satisfactory prints/ negatives with other makes of printer (HP & Brother come to mind, tho that may be just my mind)... In any event I would assume that totally blocking other strategies for ink without lowering the cost of its own cartridges would seriously affect total sales... as Trevor suggests.
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