Eastman Kodak Company announced a new inkjet printer Kodak ESP C310 All-In-One. According to the manufacturer, the model makes prints of high quality, has compact design, and supports wireless connectivity for easy use at home. Proprietary pigment inks, available in black and color cartridges, have standard and increased volume and offer a wider choice for better satisfaction of customer’s printing needs. For example, Kodak Black Ink 30XL (black) and Kodak Color Ink 30XL (color) cartridges allow consumers, who need to print large volumes of photos and documents, making twice as many prints as the Kodak Black Ink Cartridges 30 and Kodak Color Ink 30 respectively.

Kodak also offers a function of 3D-photo printing. The company promises to become the first manufacturer of consumer inkjet printers to introduce three-dimensional images to the market at an affordable price. This technology was developed in Kodak laboratories and makes it possible for Kodak printer users to create and print 3D photos without the need to use additional special equipment. Printer Kodak ESP C310 AiO should appear on sale in April at a suggested price of $99.99.

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Recent Kodak developments in the field of multifunction devices have taken the form of the ESP 9250 inkjet MFP. This device combines the flexibility in the office use due to availability of Wi-Fi 802.11n and optional Bluetooth-adapter, and quite decent performance printing.

It can print directly from iOS-compatible devices (iPhones, iPods, iPads, etc.), has the maximum resolution for color printing of 9600 dpi, along with the ability to copy documents (scanning resolution – no more than 2400 dpi). The ESP 9250 can print 4 x 6 inch images on photo paper in less than half a minute, fax and copy made at a speed of 26 pages per minute.

Built-in Multi Card Reader “swallows” almost any card used in modern digital cameras. ESP 9250 is positioned as the flagship of the Kodak inkjet MFPs, so the price is appropriate – $250. You may start looking for this device somewhere in a month.

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Kodak is known not only as a supplier of high-quality photo and film products, but also as a producer of rather good printers and multifunction devices. One recent development, enriching the range of this American company, is the Kodak ESP Office 6150 multifunctional printer that delivers printing, scanning, copying as well as receiving and sending documents by fax.

This MFP Kodak 6150 is equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi 802.11n and supports wireless printing from BlackBerry smartphones, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. To print files from Apple mobile devices, you will need the free program Kodak Pic Flick App, which can be downloaded from the App Store, a similar tool for BlackBerry smartphones can be found at the App World applications store.

According to the manufacturer, the Kodak 6150 MFP is very easy to configure and manage, and possesses a 2.4-inch LCD screen, which is used for menu navigation. There is a special tray that holds 200 sheets of paper, and the speed of printing in color and black and white modes is 32 and 30 pages per minute. Copy speed in similar modes is slightly lower — to 27 and 26 pages per minute, respectively. The retail price for Kodak ESP Office 6150 All-in-One Printer is $229.99.

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Yesterday Kodak announced the ESP 7 and ESP 9, the two new wireless inkjet multifunctions. Kodak claims these multifunctions can print up to twice as many photos and documents for the money they cost. This feature saves around $110 a year on ink compared with other leading consumer inkjet printers on the market.

Both the ESP 7 and ESP 9 use Kodak’s pigmented inks that come in a simple two-cartridge setup: a black cartridge for $9.99 and a five-ink color cartridge for $14.99. Based on independent testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research, prints from the two printers should last for at least 120 years in dark storage such as in an album.

The ESP 7 All-in-One Printer costs $199.99 and bolsters a 3-inch color LCD display as well as memory card and USB slots so you can view, edit and print images without use of computer. The ESP 7 supports Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity and can perform double-sided printing with built-in duplex unit. According to Kodak, it takes only 28 second to produce a 4×6-inch photo on the ESP 7. When it comes for document printing, the device speed reaches up to 32 pages per minute in black and 30 ppm in color.

The senior model, Kodak ESP 9 priced at $299.99, offers larger functionality: it has fax capabilities, an auto-document feeder, and a 10-inch one-touch control panel.

Kodak’s Home Center Software includes facial retouch capabilities that enable consumers to enhance their personal photographs by automatically reducing blemishes and augmenting facial features. Both printers have an intelligent paper tray system, which automatically adjusts settings based on paper type, size, and amount.

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Kodak’s advertising claim that buyers can “Save up to 50% on everything you print” with its EasyShare line. Among other things, Canon claimed that Kodak didn’t make it clear that the savings claim was based on ink costs only. This week Canon it lost its challenge when the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus ruled that Kodak “provided reasonable support for the advertising claim.”

Last year, Kodak introduced a brand new low-cost ink strategy with the launch of the EasyShare multifunction printer line. Kodak offered cheaper inks for a higher upfront cost of a printer.

This strategy seems to have bothered Canon USA, which recently filed a complaint with the NAD of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. There are reasons for Canon to worry, even when Kodak has less than 1% of the market for consumer multifunction printers.

First, printer manufacturers hand around the hardware at little or no cost, making major profit on the ink. Second, Kodak’s ink is indeed cheaper.

Kodak’s new pricing strategy that breaks the current business model for consumer printers. Also, it is aiming at those who do a lot of printing of photographs at home — a selected group of Canon’s most profitable customers.

Mass adoption of EasyShare printers and word of mouth about the advantages of using low-cost ink could turn upside down the today market’s business model.

Speaking of the market. Of 61 millions sold printers, Kodak’s share is only 520,000 units. Kodak’s distribution channels are also not so broad. So why would that make a difference to Canon? Because Kodak doesn’t need to get a large overall market share to cause trouble. Approximately, 10% of consumers do 80% of printing, so all it takes is capture a significant portion of that small group to put pressure on the rivals. Perhaps that’s what Canon is worried about.

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New cost-of-ink-per-page analysis of ink cartridges is a new way for customers to estimate their printing costs.

QualityLogic, a company providing quality assurance and control services, reported it had completed Cost-of-Ink-Per-Page (CoIPP) Analysis for the Eastman Kodak Company.

CoIPP Analysis uses cartridge cost and page-yield to calculate and compare the cost of ink required to print one page on Kodak EASYSHARE 5100, 5300 and 5500 All-in-One Printers to 11 competing printers.

Page-yield is determined by Certified Page-Yield Test Program, QualityLogic’s special software based on ISO standards determines. Cartridge prices in UK, France, and Germany were provided by IDC, a provider of independent market intelligence.

QualityLogic published a paper that you can view for details, but here is a briefly overview of what results of the analysis show.

Naturally, all three Kodak’s printers demonstrate lowest cost of ink per page in monochrome, color and photo printing. For instance in UK, one page printed on any of Kodak Easyshare printers in mono, color and photo mode costs 0.016, 0.047 and 0.064 GBP, or $0.033, $0.096 and 0.131 respectively.

It turns out the most expensive printer inks among the compared are for Hewlett-Packard’s Photosmart C5280 followed by Photosmart C4280. A page printed Photosmart C5280 in monochrome mode would cost 0.065 GBP; in color mode – 0.148 GBP; in photo mode – 0.311 GBP. Converted into US dollars, that’d make $0.137, $0.302 and $0.636, respectively.

Of course, actual prices in USA will vary, but the example gives us a general idea of cost difference scale.

Not so long ago a study initiated by HP found that HP ink cartridges contain inks twice as much as remanufactured and refilled ones. Some time before that, an ink study sponsored by Epson found that Epson genuine inks provide stronger color-fading resistance and, thus, longer life of printed images.

Just like these studies, the QualityLogic’s analysis is not completely independent and unbiased. However, such CoIPP analysis provides consumers with information that is fair, accurate and consistent. It gives them a new way to look at this portion of the overall cost of owning and operating a printer.

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