The concept of inkjet printing originated in the 19th century, and the technology was first developed in the early 1950s. Starting in the late 1970s inkjet printers that could reproduce digital images generated by computers were developed, by Epson,Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Canon. - Wikipedia.
The best marketing dollars are spent inviting 'analysts' to an event, feed them caviar, fillet, and tell them how important they are. Lo and behold, a fountain of cool-aid drinking marketing content disguised as 'fact' splashes across websites and the industry's remaining print media. No blame, its just the way of things.
Nice ROI.