Digital imaging consumers are about to reap the fruits of a three-year, $1.2 billion investment from Hewlett-Packard, the company said, here, at PC Expo.
Since 1999, HP has invested $900 million in manufacturing, $125 million in research and development and $200 million in marketing to roll out the single largest consumer product launch in HP’s history with the goal of driving digital imaging mainstream.
Between now and early 2003, HP said it will roll out worldwide more than 50 new imaging and printing products aiming, like Kodak, at both the mass-consumer end of the digital imaging market and high-end retail/commercial lab printing solutions.
The tip of the 50-product iceberg floated into PC Expo where HP announced three new color inkjet printers and two new flatbed scanners.
The printers will be available in July and include the HP Deskjet 5550, 3820 and 3420. The 5550 will have a suggested retail price of $149 and features up to six-ink printing with HP’s exclusive color layering technology from Photoret IV and 4,800-optimized dpi technology.
The HP Deskjet 3820 and 3420 will also feature 4,800 dpi technology and a suggested retail of $99 and $79, respectively.
HP also introduced two new flatbed scanners. According to Karl Wardrop, product manager, HP, the scanner category has endured beyond expectations.
“There’s still a lot of life left in the category,” Wardrop said. “We’ve found that 90-percent of households with a digital camera also have a scanner, they’ve bought into the idea of digitizing their photos and want to go back and address the shoebox full of prints.”
The HP Scanjet 3500c scanner offers 1,200-dpi and 48-bit color scanning for printing, e-mailing and posting images on the Web. The three, one-touch buttons (scan, copy and e-mail) automatically launch one of the three designated applications. The scanner also includes HP Memories Disc Creator software for creating and viewing digital slide shows on a computer or TV via a DVD player.
The HP Scanjet 3570c can scan photos, slides and negatives (35 mm negatives and slides are scanned using the built-in, lighted adapter). This model features four one-touch buttons: scan, copy, e-mail and HP Memories Disc Creator launch.
The HP Scanjet 3500c and 3570c scanners are priced at $99 and $149, respectively. Both scanners begin shipping July 1.
