Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday began replacing its consumer printers with lines of cheap and curvy machines able to print photos, betting the digital camera craze would fuel growth at the division which has kept HP profitable. The No. 1 personal computer and printer maker, often called an ink company since its profit rests heavily on printer supplies, plans to introduce more than 50 printers, digital cameras and accessories by early 2003 and has spent $1.2 billion over three years preparing the overhaul, it said.
HP, which completed in May the largest merger in technology industry history with the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp., stuck to commitments of rising sales and profitability in the printing division, earnings of which recently have subsidized losses in most of the rest of the company.
The new line of printers have a common technology platform, making them more than 20 percent cheaper to manufacture and sell than HP's current inkjet printers, which will be phased out, printing division chief Vyomesh Joshi told Reuters.
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