Few companies have managed to challenge Hewlett-Packard Co.'s dominance in the printer industry as much as Canon has over the past few years. Though the Tokyo-based company is still a distant second behind HP in terms of worldwide printer market share, Canon has been making some impressive gains lately, especially in the European and Asian markets.

Much of the company's growth has been fueled by the quality and robustness of its product line-up. The same innovativeness that led Canon to introduce the world's first semi-conductor laser printer in 1979, and the world's first Bubblejet printer in 1985, has also helped the company gain a 20% worldwide market share in the printer business. Last year, nearly half of Canon's £24 billion in revenues came from the printer and consumer products business with more than 30% of the revenues coming from Europe.

Canon's strong presence in the printer market is somewhat surprising considering its origins as a small maker of specialty cameras in Tokyo's Roppongi district back in 1933. In fact, the company did not even enter the printer business until 1979 when it introduced its LBP-10 laser jet printer. Since then though, Canon has not looked back and has consistently remained at the front-edge of innovation in the printer business. The company's ongoing acquisition of Dutch company Océ will give it an even broader market presence and put it closer to HP especially in Europe. Canon's current printer lineup reflects a blend of practical and feature-rich models targeted at a wide swath of users.