TECHNOZONE October 2002 Page2 "Olympus has gone beyond "Intel® Play™ QX3" to target the education market"

OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.55 2002-10

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Olympus has gone beyond "Intel® Play™ QX3" to target the education market



	Kazuhiko Osa



	Masato Kanao

----What do you regard as competing products?

Osa:

First of all, our goal was to create a product that would combine a digital camera with a microscope. The only product of which I am aware in this context is the Intel

Play™ QX3, which is a digital toy.

Kanao:

The Intel

Play™ QX3 was launched in the United States for the 1999 Christmas season and it was the top-selling toy in terms of nationwide sales that year. Its price was amazingly low at $99. In Japan it sold for ¥14,800.

Osa:

Conventional microscopes can only be used by one person at a time. Professional scientists need a way to put microscope images on a monitor so that a group of people can look at them together. The ability for groups to view images on screen and discuss them at the same time is also important when trying to foster the interest of children. I believe that the MIC-D will be used as a communication tool.

Computers and digital cameras have made it easier to create and share images. We can even attach images to e-mails. There has been a dramatic change in our perceptions in this area. People who previously did not even think about recording images are now starting to take an interest. I was shocked when the Intel

Play™ QX3 came onto the market, and when I actually tried one, I was so upset that they had beaten us to it.

Suzuki:

I felt the same way. But the QX3 is only a toy. Our mission was not to create a new toy. We wanted to build a microscope that could be used by elementary school children but would have better performance and would not look like a toy.

Kanao:

This spring there has been a major revision of school curricula, and schools are now required to use their computers to provide IT education. Schools already have large numbers of computers, but they are not being fully utilized. From this perspective, we believe that the MIC-D has the potential to be very successful in the education market.

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