Epson sees future in digital TV printing

Tokyo-headquartered Seiko Epson Corporation is in the throes of a brand
repositioning exercise that projects Epson as an imaging company. In an effort
to take the initiative further, earlier, this year, in April the company
restated its mission statement as 'Exceed your vision'.

"Delivering more than customer expectation is what we focus on,"
said Toshio Kimura, Executive VP and CFO, Seiko Epson Corporation at the Epson
Business and Technology Forum-2005 in Hong Kong. The Forum was organized to
showcase the future technologies and applications that will drive it to a
cross-section of media representatives from across South-East Asia.

Talking at the Forum, Kimura delineated the 3i strategy Epson embarked upon
last year. He said the company would expand its portfolio and reach in three
product domains — printers, projectors and displays and has lined up plans up
to year 2007.

Epson announced that it has developed the world's first flexible TFT-SRAM
(16kbit). The company expects it to be adopted in the near future as a key
component for small, light and flexible devices. An ultra-thin Electro Phoretic
Display (EPD) watch that can be worn like a wrap-around on the wrist was on
display, and is slated to be commercialized by Epson holding company Seiko.
Flexible wall displays, smart cards, RFID tags are some of the other devices on
showcase.

According to Kimura, broadband and digitalization are driving this market.
With a boom in digital content happening the company sees a big opportunity in
digital TV printing. It is taking digital TV printing a step further by
suggesting a business model that enables the consumers to print out information
from TV as and when they want. This involves the complexity of bringing the
broadcaster, TV companies and advertisers together besides the task of setting
the global standards platform for digital TV printing is yet to be finished.
"But it is not a long time away," said Seiichi Hirano, Director and
Chief Executive of the Imaging and Information Products Operation Division,
Seiko Epson Corp. He estimated a time frame of two years to get it off-ground.

The company has already developed the PM-D 1000 TV printer and launched it in
Japan, last year. Epson has also developed Ultra Chrome K3 ink that has
improvements such as a wider color gamut, improved black density, gradation in
dark areas and longer life that can preserve the photo quality for 80 years.

The company spends six percent of its sales on R&D, which amounted to
approximately $ eight billion in the last fiscal. It is slated to start
operations at its new research center in Hiroka, Japan.

Nandita Singh

Hong Kong (The writer was hosted in Hong Kong by Epson)