Until recently, the entire focus of solvent-based inkjet printer vendors, from a segmentation standpoint, had been on sign shops and screen printers. Over the past 2 years, a number of new low-end wide format solvent-based inkjet printers have been introduced that enable a variety of PSPs beyond sign shops and screen printers, from photo labs to quick print shops, to cost effectively produce outdoor graphics. 

These new systems feature the ability to print onto uncoated substrates and offer list prices as low as $12,000. These new low-end units will be the major growth driver in the solvent inkjet arena over the next 3 – 5 years. 

When all revenues are considered for hardware, ink, and media, the total wide format solvent-based inkjet market was valued at $1.45 billion in 2003. This amount is expected to surpass $3.12 billion by 2008, representing a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16.7%.