The Australian laser printer market continues to slide, with sales down 6 per cent in Q2 compared to the previous quarter, according to new market figures from IDC.
The analyst group’s program manager for IT hardware research and consulting, Rishi Ghai, said year-on-year sales for single-function laser printers dropped by 38 per cent. This contradicts the sales spike traditionally experienced between Q1 to Q2.
“We are seeing signs of improvement in terms of vendors reporting some buying activity from their clients, but it’s still slow and it’s cautious,” he said.
Inkjet printers performed better with sales up a modest 3.7 per cent in quarter-on-quarter results, but year-on-year results were down 19.1 per cent.
“A lot of vendors felt immense pressure from the economy and the declining [Aussie] dollar value and had to increase their prices,” Ghai said. “The dollar value is increasing, but I think the vendors will take some time to revise their prices downwards. It’s not going to happen quickly.
“You could say 2009 is the year of decline. The extent of decline will reduce in 2010 and it may revert to positive growth by the time we reach 2011.”
The printer results differ sharply from the positive server sales data from Gartner, which showed Australia beating the global trend and doubling revenue between Q1 and Q2.
