Kodak Broadens Home Printer Offering
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 9/19/2005
Rochester, N.Y. — Kodak made good on its promise to expand into the stand-alone photo printer market with the introduction of its first photo printers designed to work with third-party digital cameras.
The company also introduced a new printer dock series with built-in Bluetooth connectivity. All of its introductions ship in October.
The EasyShare Photo Printer 500 is a stand-alone 4-inch by 6-inch printer that features built-in Bluetooth connectivity, a 3.5-inch LCD and slots for memory cards. Using an optional Kodak Wi-Fi card, the printer can connect to wireless home networks or make prints directly from Wi-Fi-enabled digital cameras. It can produce a 4 by 6-inch photo in roughly 60 seconds. The printer will retail for a suggested $249.
Kodak will also ship a PC-based universal printer, the Photo Printer 300, for a suggested $119. The 300 can also make prints from PictBridge-enabled cameras.
For Kodak camera owners, the company introduced the EasyShare Print Dock Plus Series 3 for a suggested $179. The new dock offers built-in Bluetooth, compatibility with the optional Wi-Fi card and built-in infrared for making prints directly from infrared-enabled devices.
Kodak also introduced a 160 count paper and ink refill pack for a suggested $46.99 that allows users to make individual prints for 29 cents a piece.
The company integrated its “Perfect Touch” imaging technology formerly found on its digital still cameras into the 500 and Series 3 dock. Kodak says the technology, which is applied to each image automatically before printing, improves overall image quality. Red eye can also be removed in-printer via a dedicated button on both units.
