HP’s Acquisition of Samsung’s Printer Business – Checkmate or Castle ?

Photizo Group today announced the availability of a new 54-page report on the rationale and industry impact of HP’s acquisition of Samsung’s printer business announced on September 12, 2016.This report initially looks at possible reasons that Samsung Electronics decided to sell their printer business given that it is a known fact that printers where very strategic to them and they set very ambitious goals to become a leader in the market. Samsung’s current 5% share in the printer market, economic conditions in South Korea, and the costly problems with the Galaxy Note 7 mobile phone are all discussed in detail as possible reasons for selling their printer business. The report then examines possible reasons why HP decided to purchase Samsung’s printer business including laser technology access, 6500 laser and inkjet technology patents, access to 1300 skilled hardware, software, and firmware engineers, a production facility in Seoul, and incremental revenue and profits from the Samsung product line to at least partially offset most recent declines in HP’s printer revenue and profits.Will the acquisition be successful? HP has a good track record of acquiring printer companies and successfully growing those businesses especially when they are allowed to operate a bit independently. The acquisition of Indigo in 2001 is a great example of a business that successfully grew after being acquired by HP. The report addresses that challenge that HP will face including how to integrate the Samsung product line into the HP product line particularly from a channel standpoint. Of the 16 new A3 Laser MFPs announced on September 12, 2016, 13 are based on Samsung print engines. The six new low end monochrome single function and multifunction printers announced by HP on October 5, 2016 are based on Canon, not Samsung printer engines. The report talks about how much the Samsung A3 product line, at least what exists today, will help HP’s efforts to break into the Copier/BTA channel especially given the positioning of HP’s PageWide A3 products. The report then addresses the impact of this acquisition on the industry. First and foremost, the balance of power between two market leaders, Canon and HP, has now shifted in the favor of HP, now that HP has acquired a laser printer product line and laser/inkjet related patents. Now HP’s product breadth is as broad or perhaps broader than Canon’s. HP’s A4 and A3 PageWide product line is expected to be very disruptive in terms of price/performance, perhaps more so against established A3 Laser MFP providers including Canon. Will HP continue to purchase print engines from Canon after the latest round of low end products announced on October 3, 2016 now that they have their own laser technology?