Dell challenges printer giants in Japan

The company has around 11 percent of the PC market in Japan. It will be offering a multifunction inkjet printer and a monochrome laser printer for prices about 30 per cent lower than its rivals.

Dell isn't giving away any of its targets for sales and is not saying if it has any plans to move into the consumables market in Japan. This is a highly profitable part of the market for Japanese printer makers and their retailers. Analysts suggest that a price war in consumables would severely dent profits for the Japanese companies.

Late last month, company CEO and founder Michael Dell revealed in a media briefing in Penang, Malaysia, that the company will also be bringing its printers into China, Malaysia and Singapore by year-end.

It took Dell almost 20 years to get its 11 percent of the PC market in Japan. But in just one year of selling printers in the US, it has taken a 17 percent share of the multifunction inkjet printer market.

Silicon.com's Ron Coates reported from the United Kingdom.