Wacom Announces a Pen Tablet for Serious Photographers, Designers and Artists

Intuos3 4x6 provides superior pen control for widescreen users on-the-go

Wacom Press Release Summary:
Vancouver, WA – Aug. 29, 2006 – Wacom Technology Corporation’s patented new Intuos3 4x6 pen tablet is designed for serious photographers, designers and artists seeking optimal pen control and comfort when working with a widescreen display. The Intuos3 4x6 joins Wacom’s Intuos3 6x11 and 12x19 models to form a complete range of professional pen tablets that feature active areas matched to the screen aspect ratio of widescreens and dual monitors. This latest Intuos tablet provides 20% more active area than the model it replaces (Intuos3 4x5) and it’s available immediately at a suggested retail price of $229.95.

Intuitive and Portable
The Intuos3 4x6 comes with all the features that have made the Intuos3 line of pen tablets the de facto standard among serious photographers, designers and artists. Intuos3 turns on the full power of Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Painter™ and over 100 other leading software applications with its intuitive controls. Four programmable ExpressKeys™ and one fingersensitive Touch Strip, located on the left side of the tablet surface, are within easy reach for modifier keys, keyboard shortcuts, scrolling, zooming, controlling brush size and more. The comfortable cordless, battery-free Grip Pen offers 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity for superior creative input and, when used alternately with the ergonomic five-button Intuos3 mouse, reduces repetitive motion. In addition, the Intuos3 4x6 is sized to be easily placed in a laptop bag or briefcase.

“We feel that the timing of this introduction nicely anticipates the needs of the market,” said Michael Marcum, Director of Product Management for Wacom Technology. “It’s estimated in a recent IDC study that 38.5 million widescreen laptops are to ship in 2006. By 2009, that number is expected to climb to over 95 million.”

The Wacom Pen Experience and Windows Vista™
Windows Vista introduces significant pen input features for a faster, easier and more efficient computing experience. Wacom pen users will enjoy intuitive new Vista-enabled note taking resources, handwriting recognition and time-saving gesture control options. All versions of Vista (except Home Basic) provide complete pen functionality, offering communication and navigation benefits that enhance the overall computing experience. Select aspects of the experience include:

Note Taking – Microsoft Journal is an application exclusively for the benefit of users working with a digital pen. Journal simulates a physical notebook, but with all the advantages of a digital medium. The pen can be used in Journal to jot notes and capture quick sketches providing valuable collaboration options for use at home, school and work. Journal also incorporates a powerful search engine that can even locate handwritten content.

Handwriting Recognition – Vista introduces intelligent handwriting recognition as a natural supplement to keyboard input. This new recognition technology efficiently and accurately converts a wide variety of handwriting styles into typed text. For example, during a brainstorming session, a pen user can scribble down ideas and sketch concepts for collaboration with colleagues. The user has the option to share the information in handwritten form or convert it to typed text. In addition, the eraser end of a Wacom pen automatically activates an eraser tool to quickly and easily remove mistakes.

Gestures – There are a variety of pen gestures available within Vista that enable users to navigate faster and that greatly enhance the overall computing experience. Flicks offers eight customizable gestures with actions determined by the user and Scratch Out allows pen users to delete text automatically with a scratching motion of the pen over the targeted text.

Bringing Office 2007 to Life
Office 2007 applications such as Word®, Excel®, Outlook®, PowerPoint® and OneNote® running on Vista all support digital mark-up with a Wacom pen and provide easy access to digital inking tools for intuitive collaboration. Users can select a pen or highlighter tool to jot notes, create rough sketches or mark up documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides and e-mail messages.

Valuable Software Included
The Intuos3 4x6 ships with valuable software for Windows® and Mac OS®. Included in the box are Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 for digital photo editing, Corel Painter Essentials 3 for creating natural media art, Nik Color Efex Pro™ 2 IE for selectively applying photographic enhancements, and Wacom Brushes 2 for even more brush choices in recent versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

Media representatives interested in evaluating the Intuos3 4x6 and a beta copy of a Wacom Vista driver should contact Douglas Little, Public Relations Manager, Wacom Technology Corporation, at (360-896-9833 x174) or (douglas.little@wacom.com).

About Wacom
Wacom Technology Corporation is headquartered in Vancouver, WA and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wacom Company, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan (TSE: 6727). In 1989, Wacom revolutionized the nature of digital creativity when it introduced the world’s first cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen. Today, millions of photographers, designers and artists of all levels enjoy its patented technology. Visit www.wacom.com for more information.

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