Hanover, MA…June 2005 -- I.T. Strategies estimates that the worldwide retail value of digitally printed wide format graphics output (what the end user pays for the printed output) reached $26 billion in 2004 and will grow to $37 billion by 2009, a CAGR of 7%. The majority of output is advertising related such as POP signage, trade show graphics and billboards. The advertising-related segment of the market is increasing both incrementally and at the expense of screen and offset printing technologies. However, decorative applications such as wallcoverings are increasing as more competitors enter the market and print-for-pay shops look for newer, more lucrative applications. In 2004, output from aqueous ink jet printers made up 73% of the market but this will decrease to 46% by 2009, reflecting the introduction of eco/lite solvent printers printing both indoor and outdoor products and the shift of much POP output from aqueous to flatbed printers. According to Marco Boer, Consulting Partner at I.T. Strategies, “This does not suggest that aqueous printers are going away, but as a group they are shifting to the in-house environment where there is currently no associated retail value. However, research studies that we are currently involved in provide a snapshot of this segment and suggest that some in-house users do in fact resell output. We plan to incorporate these results in our forecast next year.”