‘THE MARKET HAS SPOKEN’…
KONICA MINOLTA RECEIVES
THREE 2005 BERTL READER’S CHOICE AWARDS

BERTL End User and Reseller Awards Recognize
Konica Minolta’s bizhub Color and Monochrome Product Excellence

RAMSEY, N.J. – December 9, 2005 – Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta) is honored to announce that BERTL® Inc. has named Konica Minolta a 2005 BERTL Reader’s Choice End User Platinum Award winner in the “Color Productivity” category and Gold Award winner in the “Monochrome Image Quality” category, as well as a Reseller Platinum Award winner in the “Color Range (of products)” category. 

BERTL’s Reader’s Choice Awards are based on results of a year-long survey of more than 3,000 end users and resellers from 49 countries.  The survey respondents rated 32 manufacturers on performance, ease of use, productivity, investment value, running cost, training, knowledge, installation, and other factors.  Based on the survey results, BERTL readers’ award Platinum and Gold Awards in 11 End User and nine Reseller categories.

“BERTL’s Readers Choice Awards honor what the market considers to be the most outstanding manufacturers in the digital imaging industry.  Taking into consideration the level of thorough feedback BERTL received, it is clear that Konica Minolta’s efforts to bring leading office and production imaging systems to the market and to fully understand each customer’s needs in order to prepare the best solution offering…are paying off,” Elizabeth McNichol, vice president, corporate relations, BERTL.

Konica Minolta offers a broad range of multifunctional digital imaging systems inspired by its award-winning bizhub™ brand of powerful devices that serve as central resources for document scanning, in-house printing, copying, faxing and electronic archiving and distribution. Ranging from 15 pages-per-minute (ppm) to 105 ppm, Konica Minolta’s full line of bizhub and bizhub PRO color and monochrome products handle the diverse needs of workgroup and corporate settings, as well as the print-for-pay and production environments. 

One of the BERTL survey respondents, a director of a leading telemarketing company based in New York, had this praise for Konica Minolta’s bizhub color devices and their outstanding productivity:  “We switched to Konica Minolta two years ago and have not looked back since.  Our color needs are growing fast and it seems that every time our color needs expand they have a new and better solution for us to take advantage of.  I would have a fight on my hands if I tried to take them away now.”

“Konica Minolta is very honored to be a recipient of BERTL’s 2005 Reader’s Choice Awards, especially since they represent the voices of the End User and Reseller communities,” said William H. Brewster, Jr., vice president, marketing, Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.  “These awards highlight our unwavering commitment to reliability and image quality.  Konica Minolta has established itself as an industry leader in image quality with our Simitri® Polymerized Toner.  Compared to conventional toner, Simitri Polymerized Toner provides a drastic improvement in image quality — high resolution, and excellent gradation and sharpness.” 

Brewster continued, “The BERTL Reader’s Choice Awards also recognized our commitment to being the color market leader.  We believe this can only be accomplished by having a strong family of color products.  Over the last few years, we have focused on offering high productivity, color products — from the desktop to the print shop — to satisfy the diverse needs of our customers and to meet the needs of the channel.  Keeping true to our commitment, we introduced six new bizhub and bizhub PRO color devices in 2005, including the bizhub PRO C500, the bizhub C450 and the bizhub C250, to great success.”

About BERTL
BERTL® Inc. is the premier source for objective, independent product-evaluation reports and comparative analyses on digital imaging devices and software.  BERTL’s evaluation reports, customer satisfaction research, awards and product ratings are undertaken entirely at BERTL’s expense for the benefit of its international subscriber base.  At all times, BERTL’s primary focus is the end user.  BERTL publishes the world’s largest library of evaluation reports on copiers, printers, MFPs, fax and color and production devices.  The reports are available in a range of specialized subscription services:  Color at Work®, LabCheck® and Imaging at Work®.  Also available is the DataCheck® service, a database of more than 4,000 products covering all major manufacturers.  To learn more about BERTL, visit www.BERTL.com or telephone 1.732.761.2311.

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc., offers a broad range of multifunctional digital imaging solutions inspired by its bizhub™ brand of powerful solutions that serve as the central resource for document scanning, in-house printing, copying, faxing and electronic archiving and distribution.  From high-quality color and monochrome bizhub systems for workgroups and small offices, to advanced high-volume bizhub PRO™ production printing systems for large corporations and print-for-pay services, Konica Minolta is leading the industry toward integrated, networked hardware/software solutions that are more simple, reliable, and cost-effective.  Complementing its bizhub solutions, Konica Minolta also offers desktop laser printers, microform digital imaging systems, wide-format printers and scanning systems for specialized applications.