First Memjet Printers Now Expected by 2009
Silverbrook’s
60-pages-per-minute printer shocked the technology industry in March of
2007, when the startup disclosed its innovative inkjet technology. Soon
after, the company started talking about releasing 360-pages-per-minute
technology in the future.Silverbrook’s technology (which will be
commercialized under the business name Memjet) was supposed to be
released in early 2008, according to what company executives told me
then. Now, a company spokeswoman says that the “A4/letter printhead and
related components” will be shipped to OEMs by the end of this year,
with products slated for sometime in 2009. This is consistent with
“early timetables,” according to the spokeswoman.
Memjet isn’t
going to manufacture the printers themselves. Instead, they’re going to
sell the components to OEMs, who can put their own stamp on the
technology.Delays associated with new technology are nothing new.
Still, in 2007, Memjet officials promised: a photo printer, which the
company hoped to sell for less than $150 by the end of the year or
early 2008; the 8.5-inch x 11-inch (A4) color inkjet, due to arrive at
the end of 2008 for under $200; a label printer; and a large-format
photo printer, expected to cost about $5,000, and capable of printing
poster-sized prints at rapid speed.The Memjet technology uses a series
of individual MEMS-based inkjet nozzles, fabricated using conventional
semiconductor manufacturing techniques. Each chip measures 20
millimeters across and contains 6,400 nozzles, with five color
channels, the company said. A separate driver chip calculates 900
million picoliter-sized drops per second. For a standard A4 letter
printer, the result is a total of 70,400 nozzles.However, the Memjet
spokeswoman said that the company’s technology is still being shown off
to potential customers. “The company has been doing demonstrations for
business partners and potential partners for many months, including
demonstrations at DRUPA last month.” DRUPA is billed as the “largest
printing equipment.