PALO ALTO, California -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the top supplier of printers and plain paper fax machines, has launched a personal printer-fax-copier aimed at capturing a major share of the home office market.


The HP OfficeJet combines the printer technology of the HP DeskJet printer, a plain paper fax machine, with 24-page memory and a low-capacity copier with reduction capabilities.


The product has a suggested retail price in the United States of $959, but analysts expect it to sell for less than $800 at discount outlets. It has a limited one-year warranty in which customers will receive a replacement machine within one business day of reporting a failure.


"OfficeJet printer-fax-copier was developed based on customer requests for an integrated product that is easy to learn and manage and that saves space," Hewlett-Packard said in a statement.


"It helps a small office run more smoothly; there's only one print cartridge, one kind of paper and one manual for all three functions."


The HP OfficeJet poses a major challenge to Canon, which introduced the first such product in June, followed soon after by Panasonic. Previously, printer-fax-copiers were aimed at corporate users and priced up to $250,000.


BIS Strategic Decisions, a market research and consulting firm, expects the OfficeJet to capture a significant share of this emerging market.


"It will crack open a market that will explode to $3.5 billion by 1998 when 2.2 million units are expected to be installed in home offices," said Barry Tepper, a BIS analyst.


"HP has a history of putting out excellent products at competitive prices and has such a tremendous reputation that people will buy it. HP can't be ignored or treated lightly in the office products world."


The OfficeJet will also "legitimize the concept of multifunction products in the eyes of masses of end users," creating the opportunity for other competitors to expand their sales, Tepper added.


BIS said the market will be driven by growth in the number of home offices and very small offices. It estimates that by 1995, 41.5 million or about 43 percent of U.S. households will have some form of home office.


Canon's Faxphone B160, which was launched in June, has a list price of $1,595 and sells for about $840 at discount outlets, BIS said.


Its Faxphone B170, listed at $1,695, sells for $895.


Panasonic's KX-P100 PFC was launched in August with a recommended retail price of $999, but can be bought for around $800.


Hewlett-Packard is the world's leading supplier of inkjet printers, with more than 13 million printers sold since 1984. Last year it sold more than 5 million inkjet printers worldwide.


The Californian-based company has 97,900 employees and had revenue of $20.3 billion in its 1993 fiscal year.