"From second to third quarter this year, H-P had zero growth for printer shipments in Asia-Pacific and this was due to lower demand for its laser jet printers in mature markets such as Australia, Korea and Hong Kong," Gartner Dataquest analyst for its Asia-Pacific Printer Program Mr Lam Lai-Ling told Singapore.CNET.com in a telephone interview recently.

H-P's printer shipment for Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) fell from 983,000 units in second quarter to 981,000 units in the third quarter, despite 11 per cent growth in the total printer market for the same period (see tables below).

For third quarter of this year, its market share for Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) stood at 28 per cent, down six per cent from the same time last year. "H-P has been under-performing in laser printer sector, which it has strong presence in. It has been showing an average of 12 per cent growth in the sector for the past few quarters while the overall market average stands at approximately 23 per cent," Ms Lam said. "Another reason for Epson possibly taking market leadership is because it has illustrated strong growth figures for the inkjet market and it has been aggressively pushing its inkjet printer," she added. Epson's quarter-to-quarter growth in the Asia-Pacific inkjet market is about 35 per cent for the past few quarters while the industrial average stands at approximately 50 per cent, she noted. "Very close behind H-P, Epson's market share for third quarter is 27 per cent." Epson grew 17 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. It shipped about 952,000 units of printers toAsia-Pacific in the third quarter.

H-P failed to comment at press time on the possibility of losing its top spot. Commenting on the report, Epson regional marketing division manager Mr Ng Ngee Khiang said: "We'll be introducing new inkjet models this quarter and concentrating on marketing these product line." He declined to elaborate. Meanwhile, Canon grew 12 per cent quarter-to-quarter with a latest market share figure of 17 per cent. "Canon, despite facing continued stock shortage due to component shortages, exhibited strong year-on-year growth (47 per cent) due to strong demand for its low-end models in cost conscious markets like Malaysia, Thailand and China," Gartner Dataquest said in the report.

At 68 per cent growth quarter-on-quarter growth, Lexmark once again led the growth chart in the third quarter by doubling its shipment over the previous year through aggressive bundling efforts and low pricing strategies of its inkjet printers. Lexmark's successful strategic alliance with Legend in China alleviates Legend to fifth position overtaking Samsung, the market research firm said. Lexmark's market share stands at eight per cent for the third quarter of this year. In arrangement with India.CNET.com