Hardware News: HP Instant Ink

Sep 1, 2015 12:22:28 PM

By Marlene Orr

Print as a Service for Home Users Reaches Important Milestone, Plus New Products

By Marlene Orr, BLI Senior Analyst, Printers/A4 MFPs

September 1, 2015

Many companies in the document imaging industry have moved to a service model for their business customers, but HP has also transitioned home printing to a subscription service with its Instant Ink program. Today HP announced the expansion of the program, as well as three new inkjet models (ENVY 4520, ENVY 5540 and OfficeJet 4650, priced at $89, $99 and $109, respectively). With previous devices, users could sign up for the program and begin the subscription once they received the Instant Ink Welcome Kit. With this trio of new products, three free months of Instant Ink enrollment are included; users just need to activate the service upon installation of the printer.

Taking the service to the next level, HP is also introducing two models, the OfficeJet 5741, which includes one year of Instant Ink as part of the $199 price tag, while the OfficeJet 5743 includes two years of the service for $299.

In an analyst briefing last week, Thom Brown, HP Inkologist, also shared the news that, less than two years after its inception, Instant Ink has reached 675,000 subscribers in the United States, the UK, Germany, France and Canada (the program is rapidly expanding and other geographies will be added soon).

Thom Brown, HP Inkologist, is a technology expert who educates consumers on the value of using original HP supplies and makes it cool to talk ink.

To put this in perspective, consider the following popular subscription services: While Instant Ink reached half a million subscribers in just 20 months, Spotify and Dollar Shave Club took 21 months to reach that same number; almost unbelievably, given where the world is today, Netflix and Hulu took 30 and 33 months, respectively. Three different plans are available, depending on monthly volumes (50 pages for $2.99 per month, 100 pages for $4.99 per month or 300 pages for $9.99 per month); each plan allows for rolling over up to one month of unused pages and ink is auto-delivered. The greatest advantages to the user are convenience and cost savings. Cost per page for consumer-level devices has always been painfully high, but the Instant Ink program makes costs more palatable - and it seems to be working, as HP reports a 97 percent retention rate for subscribers.

The cost of HP Instant Ink as compared to coffee, water and gasoline.

¹ Zagat National Coffee Survey: https://www.zagat.com/coffee-trends. Based on the following: Average cost for a coffee drink = $3.28. Assuming a 12 oz. beverage and an estimated 24 sips per beverage, each sip costs 13.7 cents. (3.28/24 = .13666)Infographic courtesy of HP.

² U.S. Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/. Based on the following: Average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline = $2.64. Assuming 50 miles per gallon, each mile costs 5.3 cents. (2.64/50 = .0528)

⁴ International Bottled Water Association, http://www.statisticbrain.com/bottled-water-statistics/. Based on the following: Average cost for a bottle of water = $1.45. Assuming a 16.9 oz. bottle and an estimated 30 sips per beverage, each sip costs 4.8 cents. (1.45/30 = .0483)

⁵ Based on HP Original Ink with HP Instant Ink $9.99/month printing 300 pages if all pages in plan used without going over. (9.99/300 = .033)

At the present time, Instant Ink is only available to home users, but HP says it is researching the possibility of expanding the program, so stay tuned for future updates.