Wednesday and Thursday of this week I was at BTA East in Philly. I had the chance to speak with many dealer principals and I kept asking their thoughts about the new 100ppm color A3 MFP from Epson.
- One principal told me that he was not interested because when the device is outfitted with the finisher the system slows to 50ppm. Another stated that was not correct and the device slows to 80% of the rated speed.
- Pricing, rumor had it that pricing was going to be somewhere in the 10K range. I was told the pricing is more like $16K with the finisher. Which is a far cry from that 10K range.
- With a price point of $16K and the slow down in speed many thought that there was not enough value especially if you compare the price to a 50ppm color MFP. If the slow down is only 20%, then we would have to compare to an 80ppm color laser MFP.
- Print head warranty is three years right now, may change to five. But I'm thinking not since there was talk you can buy an extended warranty for the print head. My thought is, that if you're going to take this product on, then only offer a 39 month lease. This way you'll never have to worry about replacing the head which has a very high cost.
- The reasoning for the higher wholesale price for the 100ppm device was to leave some room for the 70ppm A3 that is coming down the pike.
If anyone has additional info, please post it up. I've also heard that there is a launch set for Boston in the next couple of weeks.