Posted by Kevin Wu, HP Inkjet Competitive Analyst

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Would you believe me if I told you that there were a lot of disappearing singles in Las Vegas? A lot of singles are, in fact, missing! Unfortunately, I wasn’t looking for the greenback with George Washington on it (there are lots of those in Vegas), and I’m not talking about the portion of the population who check the first box on the ‘martial status’ section on their 1040 forms. I was looking for the disappearing single function printer (SFP).

From the wise elders I have been learning from since I joined HP, I have heard from time to time that the inkjet technology that we use in most of our present day printers is about 25 years old – launched in 1984. (Not that I’d know anything about it since the inaugural HP inkjet printer shipped when my most compelling conversation included the words da-da, ba-ba and poo.) But after almost a quarter century, the inkjet SFP has mysteriously become an afterthought in most electronic stores. Why has this printer disappeared from most store shelves? Who is the main culprit for this? That was what I set to find out at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) this year.

Like a bloodhound searching for the sly fox in the dense CES show floor, I went looking for the disappearing singles – no, not girls, printers! Mind out of the gutter, please!

After looking at the CES map, I soon found out that I would have no luck with my first two choices: Lexmark was not on the show floor at all, and Epson only focused on (pun intended) showcasing their business projectors.

So I went to Canon’s booth to scour the area for my prey. Unfortunately, after following the red carpet, this bloodhound didn’t find any singles, only All-in-One (AiO) printers.

With nothing to show for my search, I went to the Brother booth and again came up empty on my singles quest.

My final attempt to find the elusive single was at Kodak’s booth. Of course, I already knew they don’t offer singles, but I had to confirm it.

I concluded my search of the Las Vegas Convention Center at the HP booth. I was dejected as I entered since I had failed in my quest to find single function printers. My dejection soon turned to elation as I caught a glimpse of my first single: the Photosmart D7460 printer. Not only did I find a single, I found a printer equivalent to a 96 point Cabernet Sauvignon by Robert Parker. It had a touchscreen color graphics display screen, wireless connectivity, and a sleek design. It was worth the search!

So why are there so few singles left? I think technology is to blame. As we have become more proficient in our ability to micro-size products, we have been able to add a lot of features into a small space -- A cable box also doubles as a video recorder, a cellular phone doubles as an email sender and camera.

And so, our trusty single-function inkjet printers have became copiers, scanners, faxes and even telephones without taking up much more space than a single-function printer.

So, if AiOs offer more functionality than singles in not much more space, why are there singles at all? Is it a niche for people who have separate components for all of their stereo equipment? Are they the same people who can’t let their meat touch their potatoes on their dinner plate?

So here it’s interesting to note that HP still sells single-function scanners and fax machines. There always seems to be a demand for singles, but it’s not as big as it used to be. And some people do just need a printer, not a copier, scanner or fax.

It was good to see that HP at least is still letting the customer choose if they want a single function print or an AiO. And while more of HP’s inkjet printing products are AiOs than singles, there still are a lot of good choices to be had in the single-function market. I don’t think singles are completely disappearing. I think it’s that they are just finding their place in the world. It’s good to be single.

Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.