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2. Market Trends and Positioning
1
Market Trends
With the extensive expansion of broadband capabilities in most world markets, high-speed networking
infrastructure has become the standard goal for business. Offices seeking business machines are therefore as
concerned with output speed as with value-added networking capabilities.
The entire market is on the verge of a major push toward office color capabilities, as early as 2006. Preempting
this phase, Konica Minolta segment 2 (21 - 30 ppm) and 3 (31-40 ppm) monocolour MFPs offer a solid
introduction to the bizhub brand value.
Now that digital has completely dominated the market, customer concerns have matured toward a demand
for higher efficiency. Value-added scan-to and throughput functions, as well as employee-empowering
document output and finishing capabilities are essential.
Currently, worldwide sales of segment 3 MFPs are predicted to continue their steady growth in most markets,
adding urgency to new product placements while the market is still strong. Sales of segment 2 MFPs, on the
other hand, are predicted to peak around 2005 and begin to lose ground to Segment 3 and office colour
solutions.
2Positioning
A) Target Users for bizhub 350 / 250
• Companies relying on dedicated analogue machines to support a larger center machine / Companies relying on
separate machines for output and copying
• Users seeking MFP functionality and better cost performance
– Small to mid-size offices seeking a centre machine for consolidated network printing, copying, scanning and faxing
functions / Mid-size offices seeking dedicated workgroup MFPs
– Small to mid-size offices seeking electronic data conversion and sharing of documents in a secure network environment
– Large offices seeking powerful, dedicated workgroup MFPs / Small to large offices seeking local MFPs
B) Product Benefits
The bizhub 350 / 250 offer powerful all-in-one MFP capabilities to maximise office efficiency for document production
and data handling.
1. Standard print controller
2. Standard scanning function
3. Standard network scanning functions, including multi-send capabilities
– Scan to FTP, Scan to E-mail, Scan to SMB, Scan to Internet Fax
4. Internet Fax (standard) & IP Fax (optional)
5. Super G3 fax and PC fax functions (optional)
6. Enhanced Copy Functions
7. Standard sorting / grouping functions and optional advanced finishing
8. Device management applications
– PageScope Web Connection
– PageScope Data Administrator
9. Document management applications
– PageScope Workware (optional)
10. Cost management function
– Account Track
11. Resource management function
– LDAP
12. Universal design and environmentally friendly considerations