In the long term, if all printers get more expensive, it might also mean they get of better quality because people would expect more from their investment rather than seeing them as throwaway devices. Printing technology being mature, I suspect the price difference would not be _that_ much anyway - I'd have no problem paying 250$ for a printer that sells today for 100$ if it meant I no longer had to chase down pirate cartridges and knew I could still get parts for the machine in ten years time.
