The Wacom Graphire4 pen tablet range is announced today. Graphire 4 offers a new, ergonomically designed pen and tablet in either A6 or A5 size and silver, metallic design. The Graphire4 Classic is priced at EUR 83.99, the Graphire4 Classic XL at EUR 125.99, the Graphire4 Studio at EUR 167.99 and the Graphire4 Studio XL at EUR 210.00 (all prices exclude VAT).

Wacom Europe Press Release

Wacom Launches New Pen Tablet Range for Easy Picture Editing; Improve Digital Photographs with Graphire4

KREFELD, Germany—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 15, 2005—Wacom, the leading manufacturer of pen tablets and interactive pen displays, today announces Graphire4 - a range of consumer pen tablets that provide the ideal tools for conveniently optimising digital photographs. Graphire4 is aimed at all amateur photographers who record family events such as birthdays, weddings and holidays, and who want to get the best out of their digital photographs. Offering an intuitive way to achieve natural looking results, Graphire4 can easily correct exposure problems and imperfections, remove unwanted objects and improve the colour of a picture.

Graphire4, the successor to Wacom’s award-winning Graphire3 range comes with a new, ergonomically designed pen and tablet in either A6 or A5 size. The range is available in different configurations with or without digital imaging software - the Graphire Classic (A6), Graphire Classic XL (A5), the Graphire Studio (A6) and the Graphire Studio XL (A5). The Studio and Studio XL versions include Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 and nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 Standard - the ideal combination of digital imaging hardware and software. Users are able to conveniently and intuitively optimise their images by improving contrasts, correcting exposure problems, precisely removing unwanted details or enhancing colours. Working with the pen and tablet ensures that the best possible results for digital photographs can be achieved without difficulty.

With a contemporary silver, metallic design, Graphire4 offers improved features and increased functionality. Two freely programmable buttons (ExpressKeys) are located at the top of the tablet, which can be configured with frequently used modifier keys such as Ctrl and Alt - practical for quickly accessing important additional functions in standard imaging software. Integrated into a pen tablet for the first time is a new scroll wheel, which is ideal for zooming in and out of photographs or alternatively used for browsing. For further convenience and safe storage, the tablet houses an integrated pen compartment.

The newly designed pen comes in metallic silver with a grey rubberised grip area for increased comfort. There are now two separate buttons on the pen, which are set as right and double-click by default - the top button works as double click, which supersedes tapping twice with the pen tip on the tablet. For quick corrections, the pen can simply be flipped upside down in order to use the pressure sensitive eraser at the other end. The Graphire4 pen has 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for precisely editing images in an easy and convenient way. It works with Wacom’s unique, patented ‘Penabled’ technology, which means that the pen is cordless and battery-free, making it maintenance free.

Graphire4 Classic/Graphire4 Classic XL
Both pen tablets come with Corel Painter Essentials2 (PC/Mac) - a natural painting and drawing programme.

The Graphire4 Classic/Classic XL versions are aimed at consumers who already own image-editing software and are looking for an easier way to use their software to achieve better images.

Graphire4 Studio/Graphire4 Studio XL
These pen tablets are the ideal and complete solutions for digital photo editing for consumers. Both models come with two full versions of software including:

—Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 (PC/Mac) - the photo editing programme that provides powerful photo editing functionality plus intuitive organising and sharing capabilities

—nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 Standard (PC/Mac) - a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offers a range of high quality photographic filters for quick and easy enhancements of photographs

Graphire4 is compatible with all standard imaging software.

System requirements
Graphire4 is PC and Mac compatible and runs on Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP and Mac OS X 10.2.8 or higher.

Pricing and availability
The new Graphire4 Classic is priced at EUR 83.99, the Graphire4 Classic XL at EUR 125.99, the Graphire4 Studio at EUR 167.99 and the Graphire4 Studio XL at EUR 210.00. All prices exclude VAT.

The range will be available from end of September 2005 in Poland from local distributors and key retail shops. Further details can be found under www.wacom.com/pl.

The products carry a two-year warranty.

Digital images are available from [email protected]

Information on Wacom Europe’s range of products and services can be found at www.wacom.com.

About Wacom
Founded in 1983, Wacom(R) is the world’s leading manufacturer of pen tablets and interactive pen displays with customers worldwide using its cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology for digital content creation. Wacom’s patented electromagnetic resonance technology, called Penabled(R), is also offered as an OEM solution to manufacturers of PC and Macintosh computers. Many of today’s tablet PCs, count on the advanced features and reliability of Penabled technology for pen input. In the future, Penabled technology will play a leading role in the development of such mobile devices as smart phones and PDAs.

Wacom is a global company with its parent company, Wacom Company Ltd, based in Japan and subsidiaries in North America (Wacom Technology Corporation), Germany (Wacom Europe GmbH), United Kingdom (Wacom Components Europe Ltd.), China (Wacom China Corporation), Korea (Wacom Digital Solutions), Australia (Wacom Australia Pty, Ltd), and other local offices across Asia Pacific.