By Graham K. Rogers

Later this week, on 18 May, Epson Corporation will mark its 70th birthday it has announced in a press release.

The company was established in 1942 to make watch components, in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Initially there were 9 employees, but the company has now grown to include (as well as Seiko watches - from 1969), printing and projection technologies, sensing devices, and support for manufacturing process innovations.

Epson also writes in the press release that

Going forward, Epson will continue to refine its technologies with the aim of creating revolutionary products and services that allow it to deliver surprise and delight to customers worldwide.

• Residing at the heart of Epson's strength are technologies that save energy, time, and labor, reduce product size, weight, and environmental impact, and provide outstanding precision and accuracy.

• The Seiko Quartz Astron 35SQ was released in 1969 and was the first quartz timepiece small enough to fit on a wrist instead of a table, giving people access to the correct time, anytime and anywhere.

• Launched in 1994, the Epson Stylus Color was the first affordable high-quality, color inkjet printer, expanding the role of the printer not only in offices but also in the home for printing photos.
• The ELP-3000 3LCD projector went on sale in 1994. Dramatic reductions in size and weight and the ability to connect to a PC with just one cable made this model a must-have for PC-based presentations.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.