Oh this should go over like a lead ballon. HP has released a new line of Internet connected printers. One of the features of these new printers is they each have a unique e-mail address so you can e-mail documents directly to the printer and they’ll print them. But that’s not all they’re going to print. They are also going to print advertisements and you’ll be footing the bill on the ink for them. Yes that’s right not only do you get to pay for the printer and the ink but now you also get the privilege to pay for a little extra ink so HP can print advertisements onto your documents. Oh and this is just great:
“What we discovered is that people were not bothered by it [an advertisement],” Nigro said. “Part of it I think our belief is you’re used to it. You’re used to seeing things with ads.”
Really? You must have an odd test group because if I pay for something I don’t expect to have to deal with advertisements. If the product were free then I can see the justification in doing this to pay for the hardware but the customer is purchasing the printers. And yes I know HP sells their printers at a loss but they make up for it with the overly expensive ink. Now they’re double-dipping but overcharging for ink and advertising. But to make it really bad they are printing those advertisements with the overly expensive ink.
Fuck I hate what HP has become. I still remember when they were a good company that made reliable products.