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I worked for some months on the printer industry (on the image processing side). Innovation is not a word we used a lot. A printer is basically a microcontrolle
by jylam 10y ago
I worked for some months on the printer industry (on the image processing side). Innovation is not a word we used a lot. A printer is basically a microcontroller driving a DSP doing some image processing (scaling and dithering mostly). The µC then sends that to another µC driving the different motors. The DSP is a generic component used by half the industry. The other half used another DSP. Both the µCs are generic components used by half the industry. The other half, you know the drill.
It was maybe 7 years ago, and I guess now they have a single µC containing the DSP and able to speak USB, do the dithering, and control the motors all in one package. There is almost no R&D in those markets. That's how you get a $20 printer (and $50 ink cartridges).
Do no count on printing on PCBs or fabric, that'll be R&D, and that's expensive, no one cares up there.
- agumonkey 10y agoI assume most of the R&D focused on nozzle and ink which are enough for the market ?
- jaredhansen 10y agoHi there. Would you mind dropping me an email? (In profile - I checked yours but didn't see a way to reach you.) I run a company that actually is innovating in printing, and I'd like to ask you a few questions if you could spare a few minutes... Thanks in advance.
- hrktb 10y agoTo state the obvious, it's an industry that will really have a serious growth problem in the coming decades. Right now people are still printing a ton and more every year, but laptops and tablet are becoming very affordable in most situations where paper was needed in companies, and paperless is something that starts to become the norm. I hear the printer in our office like once a week, my printer at home actually prints twice a year. We used to have whole areas in big supermarkets with printer boxes, now it's like three models in a corner. What saddens me is that scanners haven't evolve much as well, at this time where they are more needed that anytime before. I deeply regret not having bought a snapscan, but then the software that drives them seems so limited (last time I checked it was coupled with evernote, and nothing like dropbox or gdrive integration) it doesn't feel that much better than other scanners coupled with a always on home server solution.
- tonyedgecombe 10y agoIt's already happening, there has been increasing consolidation in the printer market, this announcement is just another example of that.