Epson has foreshadowed a tough marketing strategy as it approaches what analysts predict will become the second inkjet printing war.
The Japanese printer manufacturer was involved in a slanging match last year with worldwide market leader Hewlett-Packard and bubblejet specialist Canon about the merits of resolution in determining print quality.
Epson, which has earned critical praise for the print quality of its 720 x 720 dpi colour inkjet machines, this month refreshes the Stylus Color range with a new budget colour printer for home PC users and a large-format printer for professional colour output.
Martin Chau, senior market analyst for International Data Corp (IDC), said this latest Epson product release was the start of a new phase of competition in the inkjet printer market.
IDC calculated that Epson took over the top spot for the first three months of the year in the Hong Kong market.
Janet Kwan, a regional analyst with IDC's IT market research rival Dataquest, tallied the same result for Epson in Hong Kong but said HP came back to lead in the second quarter after a quiet first quarter, with little promotional activity in the inkjet field because of a focus on the laser printer line.
Mr Chau and Ms Kwan both attended last week's launch of the Stylus Color 200 and the Stylus Color Pro XL+.
