• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Port Info

• Ships in Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• The Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Vipin V. Nair

Hong Kong , Sept 29

AS part of a strategy to emerge as "more than just a printer company", Japanese electronics major, Epson, has unveiled a slew of future technologies and products ranging from flexible watches to TV-printers to electronic paper.

While some of these products such as the flexible watch will be out in the next few months, devices such as electronic paper are still a concept, company officials told a group of newspersons from Asia.

The flexible watch, which is ultra thin and provides for wide design possibilities, will be marketed by Seiko, part of Epson.

Developed in collaboration with E-link Corp of the US, the watch has a flexible display that covers over two-thirds of its surface. Epson officials did not disclose the price.

A new printer that can take printouts directly from digital television is also in the pipeline.

This printer offers new opportunities for advertisers by letting TV viewers take printouts of product information when they watch an ad.

For instance, when the advertisement of a car appears on TV, a prospective customer can take a printout of its technical specifications and other details such as price by simply pressing a button on the remote control.

Although standards for this printer are ready, it may take a couple of years before its usage takes off, said Mr Seiichi Hirano, Director and CEO of Epson's Imaging and Information Products Operations Division.

This is because players such as broadcasters, content creators, and television manufacturers have to work with printer makers to bring digital TV printers to the mainstream. Broadcasting should be in digital format for this.

Electronic paper, which will have the advantages of non-volatility, flexibility, portability, high contrast ratio, etc, is another technology that Epson is currently working on. Research and development is still on and Epson has not yet decided on the commercialisation of this technology.

In the area of projectors, Epson is ready with a portable model that is slightly bigger than a video cassette. However, this projector, with just 20 lumens, can only be used in a dark room and unless its capacity is increased to 100 lumens, the product may not hit the market.

The company also launched what it claims is the world's first flexible thin film transistor (TFT)-SRAM, which can be used in small, light and flexible electronic devices. The TFT is used in liquid crystal displays while SRAM is typically used for cache memories.

Epson, which has forecast that its profits will be down by a half in the current fiscal from the previous year due to slowing inkjet printer sales in Europe and decline in sales of liquid crystal displays, is betting on its new image and strategy to boost profits.

In April, Epson introduced a new tag line, `Exceed Your Vision', that would project it as more than a printer maker - a complete imaging company.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Nipuna mulls centres overseas — Cash break-even likely in this quarter, 80 pc growth seen

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line