1.Before introducing its inkjet printers, did Hewlett Packard have to estimate the demand curve for them? Why or why not?
The thermal inkjet technology was invented by HP and they were the first company ever to manufacture a low cost inkjet printer. Before HP launched their inkjet printers, the market for inkjet printers was non-existent. The first printer they brought out was far from perfect and there was no way to determine how the market would respond to this technology. The inkjet technology had many advantages over the dot matrix technology and this was definitely going to take away the market share of the dot matrix printers. However, how many people would actually adapt this new technology really depended on the quality and the price advantage of the inkjet printers. Since there was very little information available to determine the demand curve, I think HP probably could not estimate a clear demand curve for its printers.
Alps MD-5500 Printer
Tiếng Việt: Hệ thống cấp mực của má...
English: An Epson C45 Inkjet Printer.2.When studying Epson before going after the Japanese-dominated dot-matrix market, did Hewlett Packard try to determine which factors would have an important influence on the demand curve for its product? If so, which factors seemed to be particularly important?
HP definitely took into account all the factors that would have an important influence on the demand curve for its product. The most important factors considered were as follows:
a) Poor print quality and color: Epson's dot-matrix printers had serious flaws when it came to its print quality and color. On the other hand, HP's inkjet printers had very good print quality and were very easily adaptable for color printing.
b) No competition for dot-matrix printers: The dot-matrix printers did not have any competition and so they were selling a lot. However, if HP introduced a low cost inkjet printer that was...