100 Free Prints Offered to Attendees of MIT Enterprise Forum on Oct 16th in NYC October 14th, 2002, New York, NY and Trenton, NJ – PreClick Corporation announced today it has licensed its PreClick 5-Star Photo Organizer to dotPhoto, the Internet’s fifth largest photo processing site. The dotPhoto 5-Star Viewer, available free at http://www.dotphoto.com/, enables users to organize, print and share their photo collections. PreClick designed the software to be an easier way for digital camera owners to order prints, creating a “kiosk in the home”, according to CEO Brian Smiga. “The photo finishing industry is troubled, particularly as customers ‘go digital.’ While digital camera owners shoot and keep three times more photos, currently, they spend 90% less on prints. PreClick is going to change that for the $30 billion photo-finishing industry,” Smiga said. Smiga, with co-founder Tony Mann, determined that none of the software that came with digital cameras satisfied new buyers who wanted to search, organize, email and print photos. Also, photo websites like dotPhoto.com offered great printing and sharing features, but didn’t solve the issues of organizing, viewing and editing large photo collections. The founders set up a consumer panel to design the software for the new majority of digital camera owners, often busy parents and their children who wanted fast, easy all-in-one software for the growing photo collections scattered on their hard drives. “We are experiencing rapid growth now as this market penetrates the mainstream,” said dotPhoto CEO Glenn Paul. “Now more than ever, ‘ease of use’, convenience and best quality at best prices will win new customers. With volume purchase plans as low as 17 cents per Kodak print, we have the best prices in the world. With PreClick 5-Star, we now enable our customers to find, organize, and order prints with the easiest and fastest software in the world.” dotPhoto offers web albums that users can share with friends, along with high-quality prints on family-pricing and pro-pricing plans. PC Magazine, PC World and Wired Magazine have honored dotPhoto as the “best buy” photo web site. The free dotPhoto Viewer by PreClick 5Star will be widely available at many Internet sites. dotPhoto will also offer 100 free prints (a $50 value) with paid attendance at PreClick’s digital imaging presentation at the MIT Enterprise Forum this Wednesday, Oct 16th at 515pm at Lighthouse International, 111 East 59 Street in New York. Each month the MIT Forum selects an outstanding start-up company to present to a panel of financial and industry analysts. More information and registration is available at www.mitef-nyc.org or by calling 212.681.1112. Over the last year, PreClick worked closely with consumers to study how they used digital cameras, camera software, printers, and web sites. PreClick found that the new buyers of digital cameras were extremely frustrated with printing, sharing in email, and organizing. Even printing on local color printers was a hassle, perceived as expensive, time-consuming and of uneven quality. “We figured out it costs lots of time, frustration, and 60 cents each to print 4x6 photos on a color printer,” said Tony Mann, CTO and co-founder. “Then we discovered that the prints don’t last very long compared with prints from digital photo-finishers, where prices had become comparable with film prints, 29 cents or less. With dotPhoto, PreClick will fulfill pent-up demand for professional quality prints.” The dotPhoto Viewer powered by PreClick 5-Star is designed for instant use, convenience and speed. Apparently, they have hit the mark as early users of the product find they cannot resist ordering prints and telling their friends. " A terrific program. I feel like I discovered gold,” wrote customer Pat Nowak of Tampa, Fl, within 20 hours of the beta product release. “You have done a great job on this and I am telling my friends about it. I have already placed my first print order." The product has no menus and requires no manual. Users can learn everything in the product in minutes. Even emailing from the application is effortless, with the button to email located conveniently at the top of the screen. The software automatically “downsamples” the photo, creating a smaller file size for trouble-free emailing. The licensing arrangement with dotPhoto highlights PreClick’s unique business model. The company is pursuing licenses with photo processors and finishers, and will make its second licensing announcement later this month. In addition, the company is securing distribution deals with manufacturers of digital peripherals, cameras and hardware, including printers and scanners. Upcoming PreClick-branded versions will also incorporate what the company terms a “lifetime media management system” that will automate the sharing, distribution, printing, and preservation of digital photo collections among friends and family. Once established, the community of users will be self-perpetuating, creating increased revenue from printing, processing and add-ons. PreClick announced last week the addition of several key management positions, including the hiring of former Apple iPhoto product manager John Santoro [Editors Note: See release at http://www.preclick.com/]. PreClick will be also giving away free prints and software at PhotoPlus at New York City’s Javits Center on Oct 31-Nov 1st at booth # 1304, http://www.photoplusexpo.com/ .
About PreClick Corporation. Formed in 2001, Preclick is a digital asset management software company founded to provide digital photographers the fastest, easiest and most convenient way to organize, print, preserve and share their digital photos. Its photo management software provides customers a convenient “kiosk in the home” for processing and printing. The company is interested in talking to license partners in the $100 billion photo industry, particularly peripheral, camera and hardware OEMs, photo-finishers and retailers. More information is available at www.preclick.com.
About dotPhoto, Inc. Launched in 1999, dotPhoto, Inc. (www.dotphoto.com) is a privately-held online photo-printing, sharing and image e-commerce portal where members can print, share, store, and sell digital photos. Members may also purchase a variety of custom photo-gifts and photo-greeting cards. dotPhoto members can add sound, text and voice to their online images; organize them into their own portfolio or album; arrange for secure access by friends, family members and business associates online or via Verizon Wireless cell phone handsets. dotPhoto enables newspapers and professional photographers to sell downloads and prints of their images at prices they determine. The Company’s patent-pending “talking pictures” technology greatly enhances the process of photo-sharing on the Internet, enabling a more realistic and human digital photography experience. For businesses, dotPhoto offers a full range of digital photography processing and storage solutions. The Company’s state-of-the-art high-speed digital processing system enables rapid file transfer, storage, backup, processing and print output of digital images to custom print formats. Corporate customers can also utilize dotPhoto’s dynamic “talking pictures” technology to enhance their marketing and presentation efforts. For more information, visit http://www.dotphoto.com/ or call 1-609-434-0340.
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