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.

Recently, we told you that Polaroid launched a new color mobile printer that uses no ink. Yes, there is a way to print images without a single drop of ink. The trick is in a special type of paper developend by Zink Imaging (“Zink” also stands for “zero ink”). The paper incorporates color crystals that are be activated by heat of printhead.

Now here is a video of a “dive” inside the paper, so that you can have a look at how the crystals work:

In January, 2007 Zink Imaging announced it was developing a technology that would enable mobile printing with out a drop of ink. The core of the technology was paper with incorporated color crystals that would be activated by heat of printhead. The resulting device should be similar to Polaroid cameras, combining photo camera and printer in one unit. Actually, both Zink and its innovation are successors of Polaroid. Zink started as a project inside Polaroid, now it’s an independent company employing some of ex-Polaroid specialists.

After the January announcement, there has been no news from the company, except for the purchase of a factory previously run by Konica Minolta. Now Zink shed some light onto what kind of products it’s going to release.

First off, a combined digital camera and printer. It turns out, Zink is not the first company (except Polaroid, of course) to try to combine the function of these two devices in one. FujiFilm and Olympus each released one model in late 1999. The Zink’s gadget is said to have 7MP resolution with 3x optical zoom, 2-inch LCD display and SD card slot. Images can be printed right away on Zink borderless 2×3-inch paper. An internal, rechargeable battery powers the device.

Another product is a standalone printer. It also prints on 2×3 borderless paper and uses battery power. The printer is said to be compatible with all Pictbridge cameras and camera phones with wireless connectivity.

While conducting a market research, Zink priced digital camera-printer for $199 and pack of 10 photo paper sheets for $1.69, but actual retail prices likely to change. Zink plans to release the products late in this year, that is 2007.