It's a razor and blades-type business. They almost give away the razor (printer), hoping to make money by selling the blades (replacement cartridges). Except, people buy off-brand cartridges, so it's give away the printer and then no further revenue.

I'm sure branded and third party cartridges for Lexmark will remain available for a good while. And if not, new printers are numerous and cheap, until more manufacturers realize it's a losing proposition and try to change their pricing models.

I have a Lexmark inkjet printer, and a few days ago bought both black and colour Lexmark brand ink cartridges: almost $91.00. Not that it's only Lexmark, I know, since all brand-name ink cartridges are the most expensive.

An annoyance I have with my Lexmark all-in-one is that about a year after I bought it, I kept getting the warning that my black ink was low, and to change the cartridge, even right after putting in a full, new cartridge. I have to continually click on 'continue printing', and ignore the message. I figure my indication that the black ink needs to be replaced will be that the colour will start to fade or quit altogether. I tried searching for new drivers, as per the computer store's advice, but that didn't work. It is a good printer other than that, though. ha

At one time the manufacturer was required by law to manufacture parts for 7 years after the product was discontinued. I had a problem with a two year old word processor back then. The problem was I bought my processor at Sam's Club and it was already an old out of date item. There were no generic brands that worked.

Can someone clarify what the hubub is all about? The link does not work anymore and I could not read between the lines. Did Lexmark stopped producing printers?

The link still works for me Luis. Here's the headline and first part of the article:

Lexmark to cut 1,700 jobs, stop making inkjets
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by Associated Press
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) � Lexmark is cutting 1,700 jobs, or almost 13 percent of its workforce, and says it will stop making inkjet printers as part of a drive to cut costs as it deals with shrinking sales of inkjets.

The printer and software company said Tuesday that it will close its inkjet supply plant in the Philippines by the end of 2015. It is also putting its inkjet technology up for sale.

Lexmark had about 13,300 employees as of Dec. 31. Lexmark has been shifting its focus from consumer inkjet printers, focusing on higher-profit laser printers and supplies for businesses and software services.

Ah, thanks bob414. I confirm that the link is back online; I assume they must have been doing some maintenance on the website when I tried the link.