Digital BW, The Print

> 
> I was reading a forum on the R2400. Someone was speculating that with
> the new imporved B&W available on that printer, that third party inks
> would soon become obsolete...


I really doubt third party inks will disappear.  

Price has already been mentioned, and I'd expect MIS to have a 2400 clone
inkset in a short while.

The C86 is about 1/10 the price of a 2400.  I'm not sure it's sales will be
affected at all. 

In fact, once Wilhelm has tests of the B&W mode for the 2400, I think B&W
inkjet printing as a legitimate competitor to silver will be enhanced.  This
could expand the entire B&W inkjet market and increase MIS's sales of B&W
inksets.

The B&W inksets will continue to sell into the older 13" printer base also.

At the large format end, I think many will use the older printers with UT7.
The advantages of being able to easily print on both matte and glossy paper
are significant.

I do, however, expect the 2400 to take most of the new market for 13" B&W
printers.  But, again, a year from now it may be that MIS's sales of ink
into that printer base will expand.  Most of it will probably be 2400 clone
ink and not UT7, however.

I just received some 4800 test strips from Steve for fade testing.  It'll
take me a couple of months to do this.  If the MIS inks do well, I'd hope
MIS will pay for a test that would have more credibility than mine, but who
knows.  I think even an RIT test where 2400 inks were also tested might do
the trick.  I suspect the UT7 inks will do very well and will continue to
hold the high ground.

In short, I would not worry about third party inks.  They'll be around for a
long time.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com