Is Canon giving up on consumer printers?

[Tim Dolan (Longwatcher)]

I was just in the BX on Langley AFB for lunch and found out that AFEES is no longer carrying Canon Printers and no longer carrying ink in the store (only online). I don't know when this happened (although I noted a decrease in availability of ink for some time), but since the printers previously started disappearing from my local Office Max, I am concerned Canon is giving up on consumer level printers.

I had been considering between upgrading to one of the larger Canon printers or going over to Epson when I finally decide I need larger then 13x19 capacity, but now I am thinking I may need to convert earlier.
I mostly do internet and digital only, but when I need to do some prints up I do in studio printing on an
i9900. I tend to order most ink in batches to reduce cost, but occasionally need ink immeadiately, but if it is no longer available in a local store it is time to start considering other options.

I have been avoiding a larger format printer as I only rarely need to make larger prints, but if I start doing some art prints up (which I have been thinking about), I want full control and that to me means a printer in studio. I had been leaning towards the Canon somewhat out of loyalty, but it looked based on reviews that it would meet my needs better then the Epson at this point. But if Canon is pulling out of the consumer market then that means they will probably be reducing R&D across the board for printers and ink and that kind of makes me nervous.

One of the reasons I am more supportive of Canon cameras in recommendations is their in house ownership of sensors for DSLR. Printers are not exactly the same, but given paper/ink changes I do expect some research is needed to maintain the highest quality. So any dropping of effort makes me nervous in that category and loss of a major customer (such as AFEES) has got to hurt.

I bought my s9000 and then my i9900 because I figured Canon would be good with them for several years to come (and they have been), but continueing for the next purchase right now I am rapidly going the other way.

Anyway, nothing I can do about it except hopefully someone can explain how a disappearing consumer market is not a bad thing.

Thanks for listening to my whining,

P.S. the really amazing thing to me is I think they have a major office printer factory in my city of Newport News, VA

 

[Brian Hamfeldt]

Tim,

I totally agree with your rant - I've been using Canon printers for almost five years - because when I was starting off, Epson didn't have fast, quality printers. Now it seems that Epson is edging up and past Canon, both in terms of longevity and speed. (speed being the more important for me to keep up with volume.)

I have had:
4x S820
4x S900
3x S950
6x i960
3x S9000
1x iP8500

And I was about to get rid of all my older printers and get all iP8500s - as they are very nice, smooth, quiet - albeit, more expensive than their predecessors. But seeing as the older models weren't available anymore, I'll jump on the Pixma bandwagon.

Only to find out a couple months ago - that the less than1yr old iP8500 is no longer available - not at retailers, not even on Canon's site! They have some 'new'er 6xxx series printers - but none capable of keeping up with what my iP8500 was doing. Also, alot of the newer models are going to a new ink cartridge: BCI8x series - which have a chip on them - similar to my Epson 7600 110/220ml carts. The only reason I can figure for needing a new cart design is to charge more - which they do! Just like car manufacturers changing bumpers and quarter panel designs every other year - because, apparently, if you keep too much of a good thing around, you can't charge enough for it!

The only 'higher end' printers showing up on Canon's lineup (website) are some new 'PRO' models that aren't even available until fall and spring!

What might be to blame is a story that I heard from a reputable source - I'm sure I don't have the exact details correct, but something to the affect of Canon's marketing/advertising department was taking longer than expected to get some displaywork back to some execs. The reason being was that the ads/prints were being outsourced to a printhouse using "another brand of printer". This news fired up the execs to kick developement into high gear and get a printer so they can print their own !%$*(^! artwork. Thus, the massive new lineup of PROGRAF printers with up to 12 pigmented inks, dual printhead, etc...

So, yes, I think there is a definate lapse in prosumer printers that hopefully, they'll get back to before I too switch over to Epson completely.

Brian.

 

[Tim Dolan (Longwatcher)]

I was actually more concerned by their complete absence of any type of Canon printer or ink in the stores.

To me that means they are losing customer recognition for their printers.