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5/15/2012

PLUS X AWARD: WACOM IS "MOST INNOVATIVE BRAND 2012"

Current Wacom products each win several Plus X Award Seals of Quality

Wacom products have gained several of the coveted Seals of Quality at this year′s Plus X Awards ceremony. And that′s not all: the company was also awarded "Most Innovative Brand 2012". As Rüdiger Spohrer, Vice President Marketing, Wacom EMEA, explains: "The Award is an endorsement of our strategy of closely involving users in the development of new Wacom products right from the outset. Our aim is to simplify work processes for our core target group – creative users – by making pen-input technologies increasingly natural and straightforward."

Wacom was successful in both the Professional and the Consumer product categories. The interactive Cintiq 24HD pen display for creative professionals was hailed as the "Best Graphics Tablet of 2012". The overall concept of the digital pen display impressed the jury on all six Seal of Quality counts. The new Intuos5 M touch pen tablet, which makes the combination of pen input and multi-touch function available to all discerning creative users, secured no less than five Seals of Quality: for High Quality, Design, Ease of Use, Functionality and Ergonomics. The Inkling digital pen is the "missing link" between analog sketching on paper and using a digital tablet, since it enables initial drafts on paper to be captured digitally. Inkling won awards in the categories Design, Ease of Use and Functionality.

A winner in the Consumer category was the Bamboo Stylus duo, the Wacom pen for iPads and Android tablets, with its outstanding product quality and remarkable functionality. The Bamboo Stylus duo combines the proven pen tip for touchscreens with a top-of-the-line ink ballpoint pen – a perfect union of analog and digital.

Wacom attaches maximum importance to user feedback

Millions of creative users already enjoy the benefits of Wacom′s pen input technology, which requires neither cables nor batteries, and the company likes to draw on this wealth of experience when developing new products. Rüdiger Spohrer adds: "We want to create great products for the world′s top creative users. That′s why we keep in close contact with our customers. For example, the innovative, ergonomically designed stand of the Cintiq 24HD is the result of design expertise and engineering skills combined with feedback from professional users." The use of standard interchangeable cables in the Cintiq 24HD is also based on customer feedback. Likewise, the Express View function, similar to a head-up display for input in the new Intuos5, can also be traced back to user workshops: creative professionals no longer need to interrupt their work processes when they want to activate different commands – this saves them valuable time.

Wacom will continue to give priority to its users′ feedback in the future. In May the company is launching a global survey on the use of the Cintiq interactive pen display. You can go straight to the survey here: survey.eways.de/wacom/de/?n=223

For further information about Wacom Europe′s products and services, go to:www.wacom.eu



About Wacom

Wacom Europe GmbH is a subsidiary of Wacom Company, Ltd. (Tokyo Stock Exchange 6727). Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries. Wacom′s vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world′s leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays, and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom′s intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world and provides business and home users with their leading interface technology to express their personality. Millions of customers are using its cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology.

The company also offers its products as OEM solutions to leading manufacturers serving incremental markets. Wacom′s interface technology, called Wacom Feel IT Technologies, is also offered as an integrated solution to strategic partners. Most Tablet PC manufacturers count on the advanced features and reliability of the brand to deliver a superior user interface experience.