Kodak Goes On Offensive With New Models, 100 Year Ink At 50% Cost

Kodak is today busy flapping its arms wildly in the air to tell all who will listen that the company is launching its first full-size line of printers in five years, ranging from the $150 EasyShare 5100 All-in-One through the $200 EasyShare 5300 All-in-One to the $300 EasyShare All-in-One.

All three can print and copy up to 32 pages per minute in black and 22 pages per minute in color, and print photos from PICTBRIDGE-enabled cameras without involving a PC.

On top of that, the 5300 has a 3" color LCD display for photo editing on the fly ; as well as memory card slots for PC-free printing.

The 5500 is the top dog, justifying its $100 markup over the 5300 with fax functionality, a 2.4" color LCD display, an automatic document feeder and a duplexer attachment.

The 5100 and 5300 AiO’s will be available in March, while the 5500 will be arriving in May.

While you’re knocking out those 32 ppm you might be happy to note that Kodak has been trumpeting its ink which, the company claims, will have a post-printing shelf life of 100 years ; versus the 15 or so one currently gets with printer ink. More importantly perhaps, Kodak claims - not without some degree of merit - to be 50% cheaper than its competitors in the ink market.

The cost of printing is the greatest obstacle to home-printing, according to some brains at InfoTrends ; so printing a 4x6" photo for 10 cents should help alleviate the strain from that family album.