Kodak promises cheaper prints with its new All-in-One Printers

Eastman Kodak Co., the world's largest photography company long known for its wide range of photographic film products, on Tuesday announced its plans to enter into the consumer inkjet industry with a revolutionary new product line for the home.

The Rochester, New York-based Kodak based giant manufacturer of film, cameras, photographic supplies, and other imaging products has come up with its project in order to grab the share of the booming inkjet-printer market, which is dominated by Hewlett-Packard .

The camera maker said in March it will start sales of 3 EASYSHARE All-in-One printers, ranging from $150 to $300, which will print, scan and copy document and photos using ink cartridges that cost roughly half as much as the competition's.

The three new printers, KODAK EASYSHARE 5100 All-in-One Printer, KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 All-in-One Printer and KODAK EASYSHARE 5500 All-in-One Printer, will use Kodak’s premium, pigment-based ink, priced at $9.99 for a cartridge of black ink and $14.99 for a five-ink color.

With the Kodak range of home printers, consumers will be able to print crisp, sharp documents and KODAK lab-quality photos at affordable cost. They can print the same number of pages at half the cost of other consumer inkjet printers, Kodak said.

The lower-cost ink cartridges, higher photo print quality and ease-of-use are the three key features consumers seek while purchasing a home printer, according to a study by LYRA Research. Together with ink and media, the overall market revenue for inkjet printers is more than $45 billion per annum, the research firm, which tracks the printing industry, estimated.

Kodak said its home range of All-In-One Printers provides all the above said features. "For far too long, people have felt restrained from printing due to the high cost of ink," said Antonio Perez, Kodak's chief executive. "Our new system gives consumers the freedom to print documents and photos frequently, easily and affordably with exceptional quality that lasts a lifetime."

Kodak, which has focused in recent years on three main businesses: digital photography, health imaging, and printing, would face tough competition from major inkjet-market leaders including Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Epson and Lexmark.

Antonio M. Perez, chairman and chief executive officer, Eastman Kodak Company will show off three silver-and-white printers on the set of “Saturday Night Live” Tuesday in New York's Rockefeller Center, company officials said.

Kodak has spent an estimated $100 million on the marketing strategy designed to hit inkjet-printers market leaders, while firing more than 23,000 workers to help finance the switch to digital cameras and accessories.

"This is definitely a disruptive model - we really feel that this industry is ready to be revolutionized," said Cheryl Pohlman, a marketing director in Kodak's inkjet systems unit.

According to Robert Palmer, director of printer research at InfoTrends Inc., around 30 million inkjet printers were sold in the United States last year on top of 29.6 million in 2005. However, worldwide sales of digital cameras and accessories declined 25 percent in the fourth quarter.

The photo giant Kodak shares slipped 4 cents Monday to $26.26 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They gained 10 percent last year, less than the Standard & Poor’s 500 index’s 14 percent increase.