Almost a quarter of colour laser printers sold during the first half of 2004 in key European markets cost under €500 (£339), up from a mere 0.6 per cent in H1 2003, market watcher Context said today.

The companies numbers come from sales through resellers in the four main European national markets: the UK, Germany, France and Italy.

It claimed the statistic is a clear sign that colour lasers, like their monochrome forebears, are well on their way to commodity status.

Indeed, colour lasers costing €1000 (£677) or less accounted for 64.6 per cent of the market in those four countries during H1, compared to 38.8 per cent in the same period last year.

In Germany the trend towards commoditisation has been particularly strong, with sub-€500 colour lasers' share of the market rising from 0.2 per cent in H1 2003 to 34.6 per cent during H1 2004. ®

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