HP introduces DeskJets for SOHO, corporate use. (six ink jet printers)(Product Announcement)

Company also announces revamped distribution methods, strategy

Never a company to go very long without a product introduction, Hewlett-Packard has announced six DeskJet color printers covering the price-conscious home market as well as the quality-conscious corporate market, all within the period of a month.

More notable, however, is how the company plans to sell them. In a change from its normal practice, HP's distribution scheme will focus on target markets and will use different distribution channels for each market, rather than the standard blanket HP distributors.

DeskJet 600, 600C

For the home, HP has rolled out the DeskJet 600 and 600C printers for the PC and the DeskWriter 600 for the Mac.

The 600 models are monochrome devices costing $279; both use the same single-cartridge ink-jet engine. They can be upgraded to color via the $30 HP Color Kit. The 600C model comes with the HP Color Kit plus an additional 20 fonts for "family" printing. Included are special fonts for holidays, posters, banners, etc. The 600C costs $299 and will be available only in the U.S.

Both models print on plain paper and inexpensive recyclable stock - - media that are commonly used in the home. The resolution has been increased to 600x600 dpi for black printing and 300x300 dpi for color printing.

Quality improves. The print quality on the devices is improved over previous ink-jet models, judging from the print samples we saw. HP says it has …