Zink teams up with Pandigital to unveil an array of imaging products leveraging Zink Imaging’s award Zero Ink Printing Technology. This collaboration has resulted into the emergence of their first product that claims to be the world’s first ever Zero Ink 4×6-inch printer.

Zink Technology brings to Pandigital a new technological platform to enable a new generation of devices which are compact in size, easy-to-use, as well as eco-friendly. These products will be powered by patented Zink Paper. The Zink Paper is an advanced composite material integrated with yellow, magenta, and cyan dye crystals. Using heat, Zink devices activate and colorize these crystals, providing an easier printing process.

“We are thrilled to have Pandigital join our partner network,” said Wendy Caswell, President and CEO, Zink Imaging. “Throughout Pandigital’s history, they have driven growth in existing and new product categories by making products easier to enjoy and by leveraging innovative technology and design. Their corporate mission of delivering simple and elegant products to the mass market consumer at a great value is a perfect match for what the ZINK Technology stands for – an unparalleled value proposition, simplicity in printing, and ZINK for everyone.”

The Pandigital Portable Photo Printer negates the requirement of ink cartridges or ribbons and outs borderless full-color 4×6-inch prints. Users can carry it along virtually anywhere as it does not require a PC. The device features a memory card slot, a preview LCD, and an intuitive user interface.

“The fact that today’s busy consumers want to more thoroughly and simply enjoy their digital images is the cornerstone of Pandigital’s success in the digital photo frame industry,” said Dean Finnegan, CEO and founder, Pandigital. “Our new Pandigital Portable Photo Printer is the perfect complement to our award-winning lines of digital photo frames and PhotoLink scanners, as they give consumers an additional way to enjoy their digital images and treasured memories. And Zink is the only technology that allows us to completely eliminate the hassle, cost, mess and waste of ink cartridges while instantly delivering a high-quality beautiful 4×6-inch photo.”

Pandigital being the newest partner of Zink Imaging, it represents the further expansion of Zink business and technology ecosystem.

One year ago, in January, 2007 Zink Imaging announced the development of a technology that would enable mobile printing with out a drop of ink. Instead, dry crystals incorporated in structure of paper are activated by heat to form an image. Eventually, this technology would allow for a portable printer, very much like that in Polaroid cameras in 1990’s.

That expectations have come true, and a new mobile Polaroid-like printer came to life. It resembles Polaroid so much that it the bears the name. Actually, Polaroid licensed the Zink printing system and presented its ‘Polaroid Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer’ or PDIMPP for short.

This handheld printer connects to a digicam or mobile phone via USB or Bluetooth and makes use of the PictBridge direct printing standard. It then prints out business card-sized pictures as fast as 60 seconds per each picture.

The Polaroid printer is powered by a rechargeable battery and measures 120 x 70 x 24mm, but it won’t leak ink all over your hands because it uses an ink-less printing technology from manufacturer Zink.

The PDIMPP is expected to appear in the US during second quarter, priced at around $150.