Oki Data Broadens Midpriced Lineup

Oki Data has expanded its lineup of midpriced color printers, saying it has discovered a way to drive “HD color” from high-end workgroup printers into midrange or lower-end systems at a sub-$1,000 price.

The Mount Laurel, N.J.-based vendor—which has been picking up channel market share over the past three years with its increased focus on color and new multifunction systems—has begun shipping new C5500n and C6100 printers.

The C5500n systems will maintain an aggressive price point with an entry-level street price of $599, the company said. The C6100 systems will have an entry price of $899.

“We were one of the first manufacturers to be sub-$1,000,” said Candice Dobra, Oki Data’s senior marketing manager. “But more than the price point, what you get for that price is important.”

Pat Mareno, president of PNG Systems, a Staten Island, N.Y.-based solution provider who partners with several manufacturers including Oki Data, said the sub-$1,000 color laser printers are a better fit when sold to customers seeking higher-end laser jet printers.

“If a customer needs a color laser printer, hopefully they’re going to spend more than $1,000,” Mareno said. “If they want a good inkjet printer, [color lasers] are up-sells.”

In the low-cost laser space, he said, Samsung has been even more aggressive in pricing than Oki Data and other companies, including Lexmark.

The Oki Data C5500n prints at up to 20 color ppm and 24 monochrome ppm with the company’s high-definition “HD Color” technology that prints at a 1,200 by 600 dpi resolution. The systems have a 60,000 page duty cycle.

The Oki Data C6100 prints at up to 26 ppm in color and 32 ppm in monochrome, with duplex printing on both sides of a sheet of paper and other similar features as the C5500n.

“We’re not following a box-pusher strategy,” Dobra said. “We’re really trying to work with our solution providers to really understand what the customers’ needs are.”

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