Aficio™MP 1500 – Reinforcing Market Share Leadership in SoHo and Small Workgroup Copier Segments

The new Aficio™MP 1500, which provides 15 pages per minute, has been launched to meet the needs of the highly important small office/home office (SoHo) and small workgroup segment. This segment comprises half of the European black and white copier market. As a manufacturer Ricoh already enjoys European market share leadership in this category, with 30.7% in the A3 black and white segment (0 – 19 cpm) according to figures from Infosource.

A major requirement for this category is reliability. "As users in this group often have just one copier, it is imperative that the machine does not break down," comments Kaoruko Abe, Product Manager at Ricoh Europe B.V. "The Aficio™MP 1500 has few moving parts to maximise its reliability. It can handle 60,000 outputs a month, twice as much as its predecessor."

Users in small workgroups and SoHo environments are also frequently under time pressure. The Aficio™MP 1500 has a warm up time of less than 15 seconds, and a first copy speed of less than 6.5 seconds. This provides much quicker availability than many competing products.

Simplicity is very important when the main usage will be for single copies. The Aficio™MP 1500 includes a new operating panel, which has been designed for ease of use with clear LED displays. A tray accessibility handle ensures that paper refills can be completed in seconds. The Aficio™MP 1500 also fulfils the requirements of users with more complex requirements. The Automatic Document Feeder can support 30 documents including A3 originals.

Environmental issues are central to the design of the Aficio™MP 1500. Its very low sound and emission levels ensure that it can be placed in the centre of any office, providing a clean and safe environment for users. The Aficio™MP 1500 also offers low power consumption and uses only toxic free materials.

The Aficio™MP 1500 is the latest addition to Ricoh's advanced range of digital office equipment. Ricoh currently manufactures one of the world’s most extensive line ups of printers, copiers, scanners, faxes and multifunctional devices, as well as advanced software solutions.