Ever since 1968, when it developed the EP-101, the world's first digital printer, Epson has been at the forefront of printing innovation. Following this hit product, Epson engineers have strived to create "sons" of the EP that offer high added value to users. These efforts have resulted in Epson products being used in a diverse range of scenarios worldwide.

Over the years, from the time it developed the SQ-2000, which was its first inkjet product, Epson has a launched a number of world firsts that have revolutionized the industry. These have included the Epson Stylus Color, the world's first 720dpi, high-image quality, color inkjet printer, the Epson Stylus Photo, the world's first inkjet photo printer, and the world's first CD label printer.

But the road to these ground-breaking developments was not smooth. Despite dominating in serial impact dot matrix (SIDM) printers in the 1980s, it was by no means assured that Epson would become a leader in inkjets. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Epson realized that the market for SIDM was being threatened by competitors' high-speed laser printers at the high end and by low cost inkjet printers at the other. The company decided that inkjet would become the mainstream, and investigated the possibility of thermal, piezo and other potential inkjet technologies. While other companies launched thermal-type inkjets onto the market, Epson believed in the strengths of piezo technology and focused its energy on commercializing a piezo-based product. However, although piezo had advantages in terms of output quality, print head durability, and the ability to print a wide variety of inks, the technical difficulties seemed insurmountable as the materials and technologies required for sufficient miniaturization simply did not exist. To use piezo technology in a printer, Epson had to do what no one had ever done before.

To solve the issues, management assigned a group of watch engineers to the printer division. Therefore, by combining the technical expertise developed in watch making with that of the printer engineers, Epson was finally able to come up with a groundbreaking piezo print head and use it to create the first inkjet printer based on piezo technology. The monochrome Epson Stylus 800 was launched in 1993, and the following year the Epson Stylus Color became the company's first color inkjet printer to produce photo-quality output. This printer was a smash hit, and catapulted Epson into its position as one of the world's leading inkjet printer manufacturers. It's no exaggeration to say that this and the top selling Epson Stylus Photo, which was launched in 1996, helped create a culture of home photo printing.

In 1998, Epson brought into play variable-sized droplet technology (VSDT). Introduced into the Epson Stylus Photo 750 and Epson Stylus Photo 1200, this revolutionary technology enabled printers to fire ink droplets of various sizes to suit the print resolution. Invisible to the human eye, accumulations of these microscopic ink drops made it possible to create photo images that were superior to those produced in conventional photography. Over subsequent years, Epson further refined its technologies and cemented its presence in home printing with products such as the 2004 Epson PictureMate Personal Photo Lab, a groundbreaking portable photo printer, and a broad range of other products with features such as CD label and frameless photo printing, and standalone printers with scanning and copying functions that elevated printers from being merely a PC peripheral.

While building a firm base in home printing, Epson also realized that Micro Piezo technology had considerable potential outside the home market. Introduced in 2000, the Epson Stylus Pro 9500 was a large format printer that combined light fastness with superb print quality at an affordable price. With conventional products costing significant amounts many thousands of dollars, this professional product expanded the scope of large format printers to areas such as poster printing, fine art and pro graphics in industries including pro-imaging, design and advertising. But Epson is not stopping here as it is now working to expand the presence of its printers in commerce, including inkjet minilabs for commercial photo printing and dedicated label printers.