Epson Builds on Success of PictureMate® Personal Photo Lab Family with New Printers that Deliver Even Better Image Quality, Speed and Ease of Use


PictureMate Pal, Snap and Flash Offer Professional Quality 4" x 6" Photos That Consumers Can Easily Print Themselves

LONG BEACH, Calif., Sept. 6 / -- Building on the phenomenal success of the PictureMate personal photo lab line, Epson America Inc. today announced three new printer models, which enable consumers to easily print professional looking 4" x 6" photos themselves at home or wherever they choose, with or without a computer. The newest PictureMate printer line, which includes PictureMate Pal(TM), PictureMate Snap(TM) and PictureMate Flash(TM), boasts several improvements over the previous generation, including features that make it even easier to print the best looking photos with no tradeoffs.

The PictureMate line, which has consistently been a top choice among consumers for small format photo printers, uses Epson's exclusive MicroPiezo(R) archival printing technology to produce beautiful and affordable prints that resist fading far longer than traditional film processed prints. In addition to being fade resistant, this ink technology ensures that PictureMate prints are smudge, scratch, and water resistant. Thanks to improvements in the ink set, all three models produce photos that have even greater clarity and detail than the previous generation and resist fading up to 96 years in a glass frame and about 200 years in a photo album.(1)

Designed as the perfect printing accessory for digital cameras, PictureMate supports all popular memory cards, as well as direct printing from PictBridge cameras. And with its compact size, handle and PC-free capabilities, PictureMate can be easily moved from room to room or wherever people are gathered.

"The PictureMate lineup has been so successful because Epson addressed all the barriers consumers had to printing photos at home, such as quality, ease of use, affordability and print durability," said Grace Huang, product manager, Consumer Imaging Products, Epson. "Now we have made the most successful snapshot printer even faster, with more vibrant image quality so that users will find it even easier and more enjoyable to use."

PictureMate Pal

PictureMate Pal features a fast print speed of as little as 60 seconds for a 4" x 6" photo(2) to save consumers time. It also has a new auto photo correction feature that corrects colors for dark backlit and washed-out photos, adjusts skin tones, enhances the richness of scenery, and sharpens photos. This feature is like having a trained photo lab technician in the printer to fine-tune each image automatically. Additionally, PictureMate Pal features a 2" premium photo viewer with a built-in tilt to easily preview and select images to print. PictureMate Pal also supports wireless printing with an optional Bluetooth adapter.

With or without a computer, PictureMate Pal features a variety of layout options, including true BorderFree(R) 4"x 6" photos without the inconvenient tearing or unsightly perforations that some other printers require, photos with classic borders, traditional wallet-sized photos, mini wallets, plus handy proof sheets. It also offers the ability to print in color, black and white or sepia tones. An easy-to-navigate control panel simplifies the process.

PictureMate Snap

PictureMate Snap is a step-up model that has all the features and benefits of PictureMate Pal plus a faster print speed, printing a 4" x 6" photo in as little as 45 seconds(2). In addition, PictureMate Snap includes a premium quality 2.5" premium photo viewer with adjustable tilt, one-touch red eye removal, and WiFi connectivity. Snap also provides extra standalone features, including unlimited cropping using the viewer and crop buttons and additional layouts such as U.S. passport size, jumbo wallet, 2" x 2", 3" x 3", CD proof sheets and portrait packages (4 or 10 photos to a page). Other highlights offered by PictureMate Snap are decorative Disney frame photo borders featuring favorite Disney characters and Epson's exclusive Print by Date mode, an innovative way to select and print photos taken on particular dates, especially helpful for sorting through large capacity memory cards.

PictureMate Flash

PictureMate Flash offers all of the features and benefits included with PictureMate Snap, as well as the ability to save photos from a memory card to a CD via a built-in CD burner. With one touch of the convenient "Save to CD" button located right on the control panel, PictureMate Flash burns images to a CD through a multi-session built-in CD burner offering convenient backup of images without a computer. Additionally, the burner can read photos from both CDs and DVDs enabling users to print directly from either.

Pricing and Availability

The PictureMate Pal, Snap and Flash will all be available in September 2006 for $149, $199 and $299, estimated street prices, respectively. PictureMate comes with a one-year limited warranty in the United States. More information is available at www.MyPictureMate.com.

Accessories

For convenience and affordability, Epson will offer two PictureMate Print Pack options for this new generation. The first option includes 150 sheets of glossy 4"x 6" photo paper and a photo cartridge for an estimated street price of $39.99. The second option includes 100 sheets of matte 4"x 6" photo paper and a photo cartridge for an estimated street price of $34.99. Both packs are supported by the PictureMate Print Pack Satisfaction Guarantee.(3)

An optional internal battery is available for PictureMate Snap and Flash that supports printing up to 140 photos or six hours standby time with Snap and 120 photos or four hours standby time with Flash(4) and automatically recharges with AC. The optional internal battery has an estimated street price of $49.99.

About Epson

Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the consumer, business, photography, and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) printers and transaction terminals for the retail market. Founded in 1975, Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. Epson America, Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, Calif.

Note: Epson, PictureMate and MicroPiezo are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. PictureMate Pal, PictureMate Snap and PictureMate Flash are trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any rights in those marks.

(1) Using the PictureMate cartridge and PictureMate paper, prints are
predicted to last up to 200 years in archival sleeves in album storage
and up to 96 years in a glass frame in indoor display conditions. See
Wilhelm-research.com for test conditions. Actual print stability will
vary according to image and storage or display conditions. Epson does
not guarantee the longevity of prints.

(2) Color photo without a PC in border layout, measured from start of
paper feed. Additional print time will vary based on system
configuration, software application and page complexity. See
www.epson.com/printspeed for more information about print speeds.

(3) Please see www.mypicturemate.com/satisfactionguarantee for details.

(4) Based on testing by Epson, using a brand new battery, with images from
a memory card. Charge capability declines over the battery's
lifetime. Number of prints based on continuous printing; number per
charge will vary with printer usage patterns and photo file sizes.
Viewing time and the number of photos printed is substantially less
when using a CD drive rather than a memory card.

Source: Epson America, Inc.

CONTACT: Pam Barnett of Epson America, Inc., +1-562-290-5683, pam_barnett@ea.epson.com; or Lindsay Rayburn, +1-310-967-2967, lindsay_rayburn@cohnwolfe.com, or Anna Greulich, +1-310-967-2970, anna_greulich@cohnwolfe.com, both of Cohn & Wolfe, for Epson America, Inc.

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