The gillette model and printer cartridges

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) shoved its way into the tough world of desktop printing Tuesday by tipping a sacred cow of the segment: the overpriced inkjet cartridge.

For a decade, other printer makers relied on the model pioneered by Gillette, which gave away its razors but charged customers a premium to buy replacement blades. Printer companies, including market leader Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) , sell printers for less than cost but earn huge profits by substantially marking up the price of the ink cartridges.

Kodak's only hope of competing in the space was to turn the model upside down, said Charles LeCompte, president of Lyra Research, which studies the printing segment. "We basically think this is a big deal," LeCompte told the E-Commerce Times. "We essentially agree with Kodak that this is disruptive.