Demand for dedicatedfacsimiles to endure
By Staff -- Purchasing, 4/23/1998
Demand for dedicated fax machines is expected to endure despite growing popularity of electronic mail (e-mail) to send and receive messages and increased use of digital office equipment by large companies to manage document flow.Reliability is perhaps one of the biggest reasons that Andrew Johnson, senior industry analyst in Dataquest's Facsimile and Multifunctional North America program, sees unit shipments of fax machines in 1997 keeping pace with those recorded for 1996. Of all the equipment currently in offices , users tend to perceive the facsimile as one of the most reliable, next to the telephone. Another reason: Dedicated facsimiles have efficient document handlers.
While Dataquest has yet to release facsimile shipments figures for 1997, earlier forecasts show growth of plain-paper units to increase by 12% annually through 2000. Shipments of thermal units (facsimiles buyers probably best recognize by the rolls of shiny paper they had to purchase to use in the machines), on the other hand, are expected to drop by about 19% annually over the next three years. In all, shipments could decline by 1% between now and 2000.
Johnson says that shipment levels of thermal facsimiles have started to fall, albeit, "not by very much" because manufacturers continue to lower prices, making the machines more attractive to buyers espe-cially in the small/home-office sector of the market. Tags on these low-end units, for instance, can now be spotted for as low as $200.
At the same time, shipments of low-end inkjet machines continue to fare equally as well. To upgrade to a plain-paper unit, buyers in the small/home-office sector need to shell out an additional $100 to purchase one.
Sales of higher-end facsimiles also are expected to continue to be strong, Johnson says, as buyers in large companies upgrade units currently in use to those equipped with speedier modems. To large companies with high usage of dedicated fax machines, units with 33 Kbps modems that send and receive documents to similarly equipped facsimiles, this technological advance can mean significantly lower telephone charges.
In 1996, Johnson says, there were two manufacturers who were selling two units that had these quicker modems. By the end of 1997, there were more than 15 models with the feature that is driving the move to upgrade in large companies. And, as competition increases among manufacturers, prices will continue to fall making the units more attractive to buyers in mid-size companies.
In other technology advances, fax-enabled digital machines will have an impact on the market, Johnson says, as corporate purchasing managers begin to warm up to networked offices equipped with digital copiers. These digital copiers will be installed with optional fax boards.
According to Dataquest, Sharp Electronics was the leader in the U.S. fax market in 1996, with the number two supplier, Brother International, trailing by just 9000 units. Brother, with models geared to the small-office/home sector, has narrowed the gap; it grew 43% in 1996.
U.S. Facsimile manufacturer unit shipments
(thousands of units)
1995 1995 Market 1996 1996 Market
Company Shipments share(%) Shipments share(%)
Sharp 686 22.9 874 24.8
Brother 605 20.2 865 24.6
Panasonic 320 10.7 485 13.8
Hewlett-Packard 320 10.7 485 11.9
Canon 307 10.2 265 7.5
Others 761 25.4 614 17.4
Total 2999 100.0 3523 100.0
SOURCE: DATAQUEST
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