Last week we talked about Hewlett-Packard’s attempt to boost revenue by changing their printers to stop non-HP ink cartridges from working.
Today they’ve announced a rollback of that update. In about two weeks from now they’ll release a firmware update. That update should remove the need for cartridges that have a HP approved ID chip.
The update will only be voluntary not automatically rolled out to customers. So many people will be caught in the HP trap not realizing that their ink cartridges aren’t faulty.
All our tips for saving money on printer consumables and prevent HP’s brand of corporate ‘assistance’ still apply.
HP’s announcement should go into the Corporate Obfuscation Hall of Fame. Even the past masters of this art, at Microsoft, should be impressed with this blog posting.
Heading ” Dedicated to the best printing experience” bears no relation to the core message.
“As a new company” – really? Since when is Hewlett-Packard (started in 1939) a new company? They are talking about ‘HP Inc.’ the 2015 offshoot of the original company which counts only very pedantically.
“Confusion in the market regarding a printer firmware update” – there was no confusion. HP Inc. tried to increase revenue by forcing customers to buy their branded consumables. Everyone understood what the company was trying to do, hence the complaints.
“protect them from counterfeit and third-party ink cartridges” – the increased profits to HP Inc weren’t at all a consideration. Heaven forbid that the possibility ever crossed the corporate mind.
“original HP ink products deliver the best quality, security and reliability”. You’d hope that buying HP branded consumables would mean better quality and reliability. But ‘security’?? They mention ‘security’ twice in the post. It’s a stretch to suggest that computer security can be compromised by printer ink.
“dynamic security feature” – the update must be good, it doesn’t just have a security feature, it’s a ‘dynamic’ security feature. Ooohh Aaaaah.
“the small number of affected customers” – straight from the Microsoft playbook. Boast about high sales of products but any problem suddenly only happens to an unsubstantiated ‘small’ number of customers.
Most people would have no problem with HP Inc. protecting their technology and brand by preventing counterfeiters from making fake ‘HP’ brand consumables. The complaints were about the printer stopping non-HP branded cartridges from working at all.
Consumers should be able to resupply their printer however they wish. Imagine if an auto maker ‘fixed’ their cars to only work with one brand of fuel (say with a special fuel intake valve and petrol pump nozzle)?
