As the largest technology company in the world, Palo Alto Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard Co.'s product portfolio today runs the gamut from relatively small smart-phones and hand-held technologies to massive enterprise class servers. However it's the company's range of printer products that continues to set HP apart from its closest rivals in the industry.

HP is currently the market leader in the printer, copier and multifunctional product segment. It is a spot the company has tenaciously held onto for the past several years and looks unlikely to be toppled from any time soon. According to analyst firm Gartner Inc, in 2009 HP held a 40 percent market share globally in the market for printers, copiers and multifunctional products.

By the company's own estimates, HPs Imaging and Printing business, which contributed over £ 14.5 billion to HP's overall 2009 revenues of nearly £ 87 billion, shipped over 1 million printers per week last year. HP's market share numbers are somewhat less than what it used to be a decade ago, but it is still more than double that of Canon, its closest rival in the printer segment.

Much of HP's commanding presence in the printer market stems from the company's reputation for innovation and quality. HP set the tone back in 1984 when it introduced its ThinkJet and LaserJet printer lines. The HP ThinkJet was based on a thermal inkjet technology developed at HP during the 1970s. The product was quiet, portable and offered a print quality of 96 dots per inch. It quickly replaced the noisy dot matrix printers that were common at that time.

HP LaserJet printers meanwhile quickly went on to become the company's single most successful product line ever. Since then, HPs printer business has continued to set the pace for innovation in the industry and today offers a wide range of products for virtually every conceivable need. ink factory