The death of the printed page has been greatly exaggerated, and although print volume will remain relatively flat between 2010 and 2015 (0.1% CAGR), combined U.S. printer and multifunction peripheral (MFP) page volume will reach 1.2 trillion at the end of the forecast period.

According to new research from International Data Corp. (IDC), MFPs are winning the print volume race as users move away from single function printers and embrace the benefits and flexibility of multifunction devices. Total MFP pages are considerably larger in number than printer pages, and they are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 1.4% with total pages exceeding 857 billion in 2015.

"The transition to MFPs represents a fundamental industry trend, one that will continue for the foreseeable future," said Jonathan Bees, research director of U.S. hardcopy device usage trends.

Another ongoing industry shift is the move from monochrome to color devices. But while color laser and inkjet pages will each experience respectable growth over the forecast period, monochrome laser pages remain the industry's 800 lb. gorilla, with a staggering 799.9 billion pages in 2015 despite a declining CAGR. Overall, printed page volume will remain steady despite a myriad of obstacles, including the introduction of green initiatives within a growing number of enterprise organizations; more widespread managed print services engagements; changing end-user behavior patterns from young, digitally oriented workers; and a weak economy.

The massive number of pages produced each year speaks to the opportunity for vendors and corporations to engage in Managed Print Service. MPS allows customers to reduce their total printing costs and to migrate inefficient business process document workflows to less-paper workflows.

Tags: HP, Epson, Canon, IDC