This article by Wired hits the nail on the head. If you take the time to read the article in full you will understand my following comment. I have a friend who bought a Lexmark printer. He had consulted me before purchasing it and asked me what I thought. I told him hey nice printers but the cost of the Ink was very high. I had recommended another manufacture due to a distinctively lower price in Ink and limited after market re-fills available. Well he did not heed my advice and after only 4 months of owning the Lexmark printer sold it on e-bay and went out and purchased the model I recommended.
When Lexmark sued the third party company that was making after market re-fills using virtually the same chip technology in original Lexmark cartridges this caused me to speculate that Lexmark probably built into there business plan the knowledge that they could flood the market with cheap and reliable printers that are equal in quality to others. But with there cartridge re-fills remaining semi-proprietary there lower printer cost margin probably could could be overcome by the higher ink pricing.
Wired does not go as far as I do in pointing out Lexmark but I will let you be the judge. Next time you are in Walmart, Compusa etc check out the pricing differences for yourself and see if you agree. [Wired]