|
HP or
the Hewlett-Packard Company
HP
is a prime example of what can develop from a small
garage in California. Two Stanford students Bill
Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin in 1939 to
determine the name of their company “Hewlett
Packard” or “Packard Hewlett”,
obviously Hewlett won.
Long
before Hewlett Packard became a household name
worldwide in the area of computers and printers
they established a solid reputation in the fields
of oscillators, voltmeters, and thermometers among
other testing equipment. In the 70s HP became
highly recognized for the production of the first
handheld electronic calculator which led to the
first programmable and first graphing
calculators.
In
the 80s and 90s HP became known worldwide for its
personal computers, printers and multifunction
products that combined printing, scanning, faxing,
and coping all in one desktop machine. Adding to
the HP history of producing quality precision
equipment Hewlett Packard increased its market
audience by a long list of acquisitions and mergers
including the 2002 merger with Compaq
Computer.
Canon
Inc.
Canon
Inc was started in a third floor apartment in Tokyo
Japan in 1933 by three men Goro Yoshida, his
brother-in law Saburo Uchida and a friend of
Uchida’s Takeshi Mitarai as an attempt to
compete with the German camera manufacturers of the
time. The original name of the company was the
Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. Known
world wide for not only cameras but also a wide
range of optical products, computer printers, and
photo copy machines Canon has grown immensely over
the years. Recently Canon has also moved into the
development and manufacturing of flat screen
televisions.
A
few of Canon’s greatest accomplishment in the
field of printers are: in 1975 development of the
laser printer, 1981 bubblejet printers (ink is
ejected by heat rather than pressure), 1982
personal copy machines with replaceable cartridges
and 1993 notebook personal computers with installed
printers. Canon has also had a hand in the
development of the ability to print directly from
mobile phones that have digital cameras.
Epson
Corporation
Epson
or Seiko Epson history goes back to 1881 and watch
making. Over the years Epson has developed a wide
range of technical products based on a philosophy
of saving: saving space, costs, energy and
resources. They have been quit successful with
developing a product line that includes projectors,
printers, scanners, digital cameras and computers
to name a few.
Over
the years Epson has been responsible for many
firsts in the field of technology including: the
first printer mechanism in 1968, the first LCD
digital wristwatch in 1973, the first notebook
computer in 1981 and the first printer manufactured
totally by automation. In 1998 Epson’s Stylus
Color 800 inkjet printer was used by NASA for the
STS-95 mission, in 1999 they developed the fastest
colour inkjet printer and in 2002 Epson was
responsible for the first seven-color desktop photo
printer.
Lexmark
International, Inc
Lexmark’s
headquarters are in Lexington, Kentucky where it
started as an offshoot of IBM’s printer
division in 1991. Lexmark now has offices all over
the world. Lexmark has since become one of the
largest manufacturers of printers but the name may
not be as well known as HP or Canon this is largely
because a good share of Lexmark’s printers are
bundled with personal computers sold by such
companies as Dell. Lexmark manufactures the printer
but Dell’s name goes on it.
A
unique facet of Lexmark is besides the production
of inkjet and laser printers they also produce a
line of business software individually developed to
suit the specific business. Lexmark also offers a
services and solutions area of the corporation that
functions to aid businesses in finding the best
products and prices for supplies as well as
equipment.
Lexmark
is attempting to build their name in the home
printing field by developing more printers to be
produced under their own name.
|
