The worldwide hardcopy peripherals market grew 9.1% year over year with 28.7 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2010 (1Q10), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. This is the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year unit growth and the first quarter since early 2008 where hardcopy peripherals shipment value ($13.8 billion) has also experienced year-over-year growth (7%).

"It is encouraging to now see both units and shipment value growth in all the major segments of the hardcopy peripherals market and we believe this trend will continue into 2010," said Ruth Flynn, research analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.

Once again the color laser MFP market has shown the greatest year-over-year growth with 25% in 1Q10, followed closely by monochrome laser MFPs, which grew by 18%. But color inkjet MFPs continue to make up the majority of the hardcopy peripherals market with 51% share. Samsung is the number one ranked vendor for both color and monochrome laser MFP shipments and posted 35% and 76% year-over-year growth respectively. HP continues to dominate the color inkjet MFP market with a number one ranking and 21% year-over-year growth.

Technology Highlights

• The inkjet market, and more specifically the color inkjet MFP market, is still the technology that holds the majority share of the hardcopy peripherals market, with over 19 million units shipped worldwide, 14.8 million of which were color inkjet MFP units. The inkjet market continues to be dominated by a small group of vendors, with over 85% of inkjet market share taken up by the top three vendors.
• In 1Q10 monochrome laser devices continue to rank second in units shipped (7 million units) and first in shipment value ($5.8 billion). Monochrome laser units have a 24% share of the hardcopy peripherals market in terms of unit shipments, but 42% share in terms of shipment value.
• Color laser devices retain a 37% share of the hardcopy market shipment value in 1Q10, while only taking up a 6% share of unit shipments. The MFP penetration at 47% and year-over-year growth of 17% for the color laser market beats these same metrics for the monochrome laser market which are 37% and 10% respectively.

Regional Highlights

• United States – In 1Q10 the U.S. returned to positive year-over-year growth for both units and shipment value at 5.9% and 0.8% respectively. And while the U.S. ranks third for units shipped (6.4 million) they continued to lead the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market for shipment value ($3.9 billion).
• Western Europe – Western Europe is the only region where the hardcopy peripherals market did not return to growth in 1Q10. Both units and shipment value declined by about 2% year-over-year, but Western Europe still ranks second for both of these metrics with 6.4 million units and $3.2 billion shipment value.
• CEMA – With 10% year-over-year unit shipment growth, CEMA has seen the hardcopy peripherals market expand as compared to the previous year for the second quarter in a row. In addition the shipment value in CEMA grew by 21% year-over-year.
• Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) – This region improved to number 1 for unit shipments with 6.9 million units in 1Q10, and maintained a fourth place rank in terms of shipment value with $1.96 billion. Additionally APeJ had the highest year-over-year growth rate out of all regions for both units shipped with 23% and shipment value with 28%.
• Japan – Japan continues to be the third largest market in terms of shipment value ($2.6 billion), behind only the U.S. and Western Europe. Both units shipped and shipment value returned to positive year-over-year growth in 1Q10 at 4% and 6% respectively.

Vendor Highlights

• HP – HP continues to be the number one ranked vendor in 1Q10 with worldwide market share of 41.1% and 10.5% year-over-year growth. The Americas region was strongest for HP in terms of unit growth in 1Q10, with 16% year-over-year growth, followed by the APeJ and EMEA regions with 12% and 3% growth respectively. In the worldwide MFP market HP grew 19% year over year, driven by record-high first quarter inkjet MFP shipments. While HP has lost market share in the overall printer segment compared to 1Q09, they have gained 5 points of market share in the inkjet printer segment.
• Canon – Canon maintained its position as the second ranked vendor, with worldwide year-over-year growth of 6.2%. This performance was driven by 19% year-over-year growth in the APeJ region where Canon is the only vendor in the top 5 to experience year-over-year growth for the last four consecutive quarters. Canon achieved growth in both the MFP and printer markets, with the strongest showing from laser printers, with 28% year-over-year growth.
• Epson – Holding onto the number 3 position worldwide, Epson posted 10.8% year-over-year shipment growth in 1Q10, while its market share remained flat from the previous year. The vendor experienced double digit year-over-year growth in both the APeJ and Americas regions at 23% and 16% respectively, while in the EMEA region it saw a 3% year-over-year decline. Printer shipments grew by 14% and MFP shipments grew by 9%, while Epson moved up one spot to become the number two inkjet MFP vendor.
• Samsung – Moving ahead one spot to the number 4 ranking this quarter, Samsung experienced 49.9% growth worldwide and gained just under two points in market share. For units shipped in the laser MFP space, Samsung continues to be ranked first, and experienced an impressive 67% year-over-year growth. The vendor is also excelling in the laser printer space with 50% year-over-year growth and a 5% gain in market share from 1Q09.
• Brother – While Brother fell to the fifth position in 1Q10, they were able to gain almost 1 point in market share over the previous quarter. The vendor experienced positive shipment growth year-over-year in both the Americas and APeJ regions at 10% and 3% respectively, but slow economic recovery in Western Europe has hurt Brother and its shipments continued on a downward trend, declining 19% year over year for the EMEA region.

Notes:

• IDC tracks A2-A4 devices in the Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals
• Hardcopy Peripherals include single-function printers, printer-based multifunctional systems (MFPs), and single-function digital copiers (SF DC). Data for all vendors are reported for calendar periods.

For more information about IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, please contact Ruth Flynn (rflynn@idc.com).

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