The business model of printers is the same as that of shavers, i.e. selling the basic machine at a very low price and the consumables at a high price. However, for some time we have seen much cheaper alternatives to official cartridges appear. All this has led to the fact that instead of looking for a fair price of consumables for the user, which would be reasonable, many brands have decided to opt for more drastic options which are none other than blocking the use of third-party cartridges.
This is how HP only allows you to use its own cartridges in its printers
Well yes, Hewlett Packard printers have the ability to detect whether the cartridges are genuine or not. As they do? Well, the method is very simple. Each of its devices has a hidden key that only HP itself knows and basically this is encoded both in a small chip in the cartridges and in the device. Simple and clear, when the two elements are subtracted, they give a zero and the condition that the cartridge is original is activated to allow the printer to operate normally.
Obviously we have given you a very simplified explanation and the most probable thing is that there is a security key of different levels and with a complex formula in the middle. By this we mean that they turned their printer parts into a key so they could use them. They thus charge the competition with the stroke of a pen and return to a state of price monopoly detrimental to users who see the rise in the cost of each impression explode.
The only way cartridge manufacturers other than HP itself can make their cartridges is to buy the brand name chips that enable compatibility. Also, if you decide to use an unofficial cartridge, all the print queue you sent at that time will simply be canceled and you will have your printer transformed into a nice paperweight.
They lost cases for it
The move to block third-party cartridges and force the use of their own or those with their chips has led them to several lawsuits in which the company has lost several accounts due to maneuvers against consumers. Instead of admitting the error, they limited themselves to pointing out which printers have this “feature” and which do not. In any case, if we look in perspective, we have to start from the fact that HP’s position was in danger a few years ago due to the low revenues of its printer division.
