Epson

= Epson = toc Epson's history spans more than 100 years, with a heritage that began in watch making and led to the invention of the world's first quartz watch along with many other technology "firsts." This long tradition of creating products that are smaller and more precise continues today, with the development of some of the world's most advanced micromechantronics capabilities for ultra fine, high precision processing. It is the company's vision to drive Digital Image Innovation by providing cutting-edge imaging solutions, focused on the fields of imaging on paper, imaging on screen, and imaging on glass. Supporting this vision will be continued innovation in core devices that provide value-added solutions for linking imaging products.

Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global technology company at the forefront of technological revolutions in imaging, robotics, precision machinery and electronics. Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products for the consumer, photographic, business and graphic arts markets. The company is also a leading supplier of value-added point-of-sale (POS) printers and transaction terminals for the retail market. Founded in 1975, Epson America Inc. is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

Seiko Epson Corporation
Epson America's parent company, Seiko Epson Corporation, had its origins in Suwa Seikosha, one of several manufacturing companies in The Seiko Group. The Seiko Group evolved from K. Hattori & Company, an import/export trading company of clocks and watches that was established in 1881. Suwa Seikosha was responsible for manufacturing men's watches and conducting research and development in the core technologies of CMOS integrated circuits and liquid crystal displays. These are major components in many of today's high-performance desktop, notebook and handheld computers. In 1964, The Seiko Group was chosen to supply the official timekeeping equipment for the Tokyo Olympics and was asked to design a special timing device for the games. Using their watch-related technologies, Suwa Seikosha developed a high-precision crystal chronometer (timepiece) combined with a printing timer. In 1968, Suwa Seikosha developed the first commercially successful printer mechanism, the EP-101, incorporating technology that would later be found in the MX-80 printer. In 1969, Suwa Seikosha perfected the world's first quartz watch. Since its establishment, Seiko Epson Corporation has earned a reputation for pioneering original technologies which have led to a number of "firsts" in technological innovation.

Epson America, Inc.
In 1975, Epson America, Inc. entered the U.S. market to supply original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components and peripherals to the computer and electronics market. Four years later, when the personal computer market was being established and there was a need for a competitively priced desktop printer, Epson introduced the MX-80. This successful and widely distributed printer became the 'de-facto' industry standard for serial impact dot matrix printers due to its high performance, quality print output, reliability and affordability. Epson captured a 60% share of the dot matrix printer market as a result of that product introduction. Today, Epson America, Inc. is responsible for the sales, marketing, distribution, service and support of a wide range of digital imaging products and point-of-sale system solutions throughout the Americas. Under its brand name, Epson offers an extensive array of award-winning image capture and image output products, including color inkjet printers, scanners, LCD multimedia projectors, and monochrome dot matrix printers. Epson's branded products are designed for a variety of customer environments, including business, photography, government, audio visual, graphic arts and the home.

Historical Achievments
Seiko Epson enjoys a distinguished reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality products, placing the company in a leadership position in a variety of industries. Some of these firsts include: > (EPSON Stylus® Color 600, EPSON Stylus® Color 800)
 * 1964 || * High-precision crystal chronometer 951 and printing timers ||
 * 1968 || * Printer mechanism, EP-101 ||
 * 1969 || * Analog quartz watch ||
 * 1973 || * Manufacture of LCD-equipped digital quartz wristwatch ||
 * 1975 || * EPSON® brand established ||
 * 1978 || * EPSON branded impact dot matrix printer, TX-80, introduced ||
 * 1980 || * MX-80 serial impact printer introduced and became "de-facto" industry standard for dot matrix printers ||
 * 1981 || * Notebook computer (HX-20) ||
 * 1982 || * Liquid crystal TV watch ||
 * 1983 || * Battery-powered 3.5" floppy disk drive (SMD 200) ||
 * 1984 || * Portable liquid crystal color TV (ET-10) ||
 * 1985 || * DOS-based PC, memory card (SRAM), plastic-packaged oscillator ||
 * 1988 || * Printer manufactured totally by automation ||
 * 1989 || * Single-pass color flatbed scanner ||
 * 1990 || * Wristwatch pager ||
 * 1994 || * Desktop color inkjet printer with 720 dpi resolution (EPSON Stylus® COLOR) ||
 * 1995 || * Smallest, lightest and brightest 3-LCD projector (ELP-3000™) ||
 * 1997 || * Desktop color inkjet printers with 1440 dpi resolution
 * Six-color photo quality printer (EPSON Stylus® Color Photo) ||
 * 1998 || * Color inkjet printer selected by NASA for STS-95 mission (EPSON Stylus Color 800)
 * Color inkjet printer with built-in USB connectivity (EPSON Stylus Color 740) ||
 * 1999 || * World's fastest color inkjet printer in its class (EPSON Stylus Color 900)
 * iMac printer (EPSON Stylus Color 740i)
 * Superportable projectors (PowerLite 710c, PowerLite 700c and PowerLite 500c) become industry's lightest three-LCD projectors
 * Printers to offer FireWire connectivity ||
 * 2000 || * World's first edge-to-edge 4" x 6" snapshot printing on an inkjet printer ||
 * 2002 || * First seven-color archival desktop photo printer
 * World's first 2 picoliter ink drop in an inkjet printer ||

**References**
**[|Epson Homepage]**