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Epson aims to maintain its projector market share leadership with brighter and enhanced interactive models

By Ng Chong Seng - on 5 Sep 2014, 1:45pm

Epson aims to maintain its projector market share leadership with brighter and enhanced interactive models

 

At a media event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the development of its 3LCD projection technology, Epson shared with us its business expansion strategy for Singapore.

To summarize, Epson, which held the top projector brand position in Singapore for the past three years (it garnered 26.5% market share in FY13; and 33.3% in Q1 of FY14), will be putting a lot of focus in the corporate and education segments. The company also intends to continue develop brighter projectors, and a variety of commercial projectors that are easy to setup and use, with simplified connectivity and enhanced interactive capabilities.

A prime example of this new crop of interactive projectors is the EB-595Wi, which is the world’s first 3LCD, touch-enabled projector, and which targets the education segment. First announced in May 2014, the ultra-short-throw EB-595Wi sports a light output (white and color) of 3,300 lumens, 6,000 hours of lamp life (under Eco mode), 10,000:1 contrast ratio, MHL connectivity, and dual-pen interactivity. However, its main claim to fame is that it supports fingers interactivity. That is, you can directly use your fingers to scroll, pinch in or out, double-tap, and even erase annotations.

Both the EB-595Wi and EB-1430Wi allow you to use your fingers to annotate directly onto the screen.

A similar interactive projector that targets the corporate market is the EB-1430Wi. This 3,300-lumen, WXGA projector also has an up to 6,000-hour lamp life, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, finger-touch and dual-pen interactivity functions. A unique feature is the new whiteboard sharing mode that allows meeting participants to view and annotate whiteboard content from a range of smart devices, all without the need for any special application.

The EB-595Wi is currently available for S$3,299. The EB-1430Wi will be available in end October; pricing will be announced at a later date.

The Epson-EB-1430Wi (left) and EB-1985WU (right).

For something brighter, you can look to the EB-1985WU. This is a 4,800-lumen, WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) projector that sports a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, Miracast and MHL connectivity, and a Farouja DCDi cinema chipset. It will go on sale in end September, alongside other new high brightness business projectors in the series, including the EB-1970W (WXGA, 5,000 lumens), EB-1975W (same specs as 1970W, but with support for Intel WiDi/Miracast), and EB-1980WU (WUXGA, 4,400 lumens). Pricing info will be given at a later date.

Projectors in the EB-Z series are all high-brightness projectors, with the brightest one topping out at 11,000 lumens.

If light output of 4,800 lumens still isn’t enough for you (because you really have a large venue), there are always options in the EB-Z series, such as the EB-Z10000U and EB-Z11000. The former is a WUXGA projector with up to 4,000 hours of lamp life and a light output of 10,000 lumens; the latter is an XGA (1,024 x 768) projector with a light output of 11,000 lumens. Both EB-Z series projectors support lens shift and seven optional lenses, including the standard lens and a new short throw zoom lens. There’s also a new portrait mode that allows you to place the projector on its side to do a vertical projection without any adverse impact on performance (a separate portrait lens lasts 1,000 hours).

Sales for the new EB-Z series (which comprises of the EB-Z9870, EB-Z11000W, EB-Z9900W, EB-Z9800W, EB-Z10000U, EB-Z9870U, EB-Z9750U, EB-Z11000) will being end September; and pricing will be made known at a later date.

Moving forward, Epson will be progressively rolling out strategic new products and updated models over the next five years. Product development will also increase and will target high growth sectors, such as the commercial and home theater segments. Models that address the needs of large venues, such as high brightness models, as well as specific commercial applications, such as digital signage and promotional campaigns, are also among the products in the works.

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