With the upcoming release of Eastman Kodak Co.’s new EasyShare All-In-One line up of printers available at select Canadian retailers this fall, Kodak is encouraging its customers to start printing more, a whole lot more.
The company is targeting these printers at the home office and consumer-level market space with promises of print savings of up to 50 per cent. Included in the EasyShare All-In-One printer portfolio are the 5500, 5300 and the 5100 models. Steve Billow, writing systems development manager of Kodak’s inkjet system division, said the company outlined its value proposition four years ago.
“[This program] took about three and a half years to develop,” Billow said. “We started with customer needs and when we talked to customers and did surveys, we were consistently told the same thing. There were four basic needs that our customers had which included the cost of printing, the image and print quality, the set up of the printer and demand for an all-in-one device. These [were] the needs that Kodak decided to go after with the development of our new printers.”
Barbara Pierce, a spokesperson for Kodak’s inkjet system division, said the company’s strategy will be based on lowering total acquisition costs.
“We’re offering a fair price for our hardware and ink,” Pierce said. “This is for the consumer who prints a lot and because they’re saving money, they’re going to come out ahead. We also want to initiate a relationship to work with Canadian retailers and their customers to teach them how to be smart about their printer purchase.”
Kodak is providing training to Canadian retail staff through a dedicated team of education experts and promises to provide full support on both the retail and customer end.
Based on third-party testing conducted by QualityLogic Inc. lab, it was determined that Kodak’s all-in-one printers, combined with Kodak’s low-cost ink products, can save customers up to 50 per cent on total printing costs.
The Kodak EasyShare 5500 All-In-One inkjet printer offers users print, scan, copy and fax capabilities in addition to Kodak lab-quality photo printing capabilities. The printer also comes equipped with an automatic document feeder and a duplexer for double-sided document printing. Other features of the 5500 include, a 2.4-inch colour LCD display, Bluetooth technology enablement and print capabilities of up to 32 pages per minute in black and white and up to 30 pages per minute in colour. For borderless 4 x 6-inch photo prints, prints are completed in 28 seconds.
The 5300 printer can print, scan and copy as well as can print photos. The printer also features a three-inch colour LCD display and its print speeds for black and white, colour and photos, are the same as the estimated speeds for the 5500 model.
Completing the line up of the EasyShare printers is the 5100, a printer that can print, scan, copy and can print photos at the same print speeds as its sister printers, the 5500 and the 5300.
The 5500 and the 5300 printers, at MSRPs of $329.99 and $229.99 respectively, will be made exclusively available on September 26 at Staples Business Depot stores across Canada and will become available to additional retailers across the country in 2008. The 5100, at an MRSP of $129.99, will be released at select retailers throughout Canada beginning this November.
Kodak is offering black ink cartridges for a MRSP of $11.99 and a five-ink colour ink cartridge for $17.99, as well as photo value pack options.
“Kodak is revolutionizing the consumer inkjet printing industry with a bold new model – premium ink for half the cost,” Pierce said. “This gives people the freedom to print high quality photos and documents without concern for replacement ink costs. We know people will respond to the opportunity to print more for less.”
