( Weymouth, MA) April 25, 2005…InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ North American Digital Peripherals Solutions Consulting Service (DPS) has just released its 2004 placements for the U.S. printer, fax, and copier markets.

Data published in the document entitled Preliminary U.S. Copier Market Placements for 2004 indicates that the production segment for copiers grew an astounding 73% between 2003 and 2004, while the personal and workgroup segments declined slightly. Color segments represent the brightest spot in the copier market, with workgroup color and production color increasing 47% and 241%, respectively. This growth was fueled by the high number of color-enabled product introductions throughout 2004.

“Clearly, a key area of focus in the color market is the office environment,” commented Rick Clayton, a Director of DPS at InfoTrends/CAP Ventures. “Copier vendors see a real opportunity in the office for the migration of black & white pages to color and also bringing color work in-house when it had previously been outsourced.”

Placements within the U.S. printer market increased from 28.6 million units in 2003 to 30.3 million units in 2004. The data released in the document entitled Preliminary U.S. Printer adn Printer-Based MFP Placements for 2004 reveals inkjet technology is dominating this market, accounting for 25.9 million unit placements during 2004.   

Color page printer placements experienced an impressive 56% year-over-year growth, rising to 563,495 units in 2004. For the same period, monochrome printers grew at a rate of 3%. This can largely be attributed to the growth of monochrome multifunctional printers.

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ report entitled Preliminary U.S. Fax Placements for 2004 indicates that 2004 fax placements experienced a shift from the personal segment to the mid-volume workgroup segment as a result of lower pricing and increased functionality for products in the workgroup segment. Most new models introduced in 2004 were within the mid-volume workgroup segment, which experienced a 1.2% growth over 2003 placements.

“The U.S. facsimile market continues to struggle, evidenced by the slight decline in year-over-year unit placements,” commented Clayton. “Today, the majority of copier-based segment 1 and 2 devices and multifunctional workgroup printers include built-in fax capabilities, which are heavily impacting overall fax placements.”

Each document includes InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ 2004 estimates for U.S. placements of either printer, copier, or facsimile products. The reports also include year-over-year market share statistics. InfoTrends/CAP Ventures intends to publish its comprehensive 2004 – 2009 forecasts on these markets this summer.

The placement estimates are available immediately to clients of InfoTrends/CAP Ventures’ North American Digital Peripherals Solutions Consulting Service. For more information about the report or to make a purchase, please contact Alison Hipp at (781) 616-2100, ext. 126 or alison_hipp@infotrends.com.