RAMSEY, NJ and MANALAPAN, NJ - January 25, 2007 - KONICA MINOLTA is pleased to announce that BERTL(r) Inc. has named Konica Minolta a 2006 BERTL Readers' Choice Award winner of three Readers' Choice Platinum Awards and three Gold Awards. The BERTL Readers' Choice Awards are based on results from BERTL's in-depth survey. Participants are from BERTL's international membership comprised of buyers, end users, and resellers who provide an overall rating of manufacturer performance in key categories from both buying and selling perspectives. The survey respondents rated 32 manufacturers on performance, ease of use, productivity, investment value, running cost, training, knowledge, installation, and other factors; and based on the survey results, BERTL readers awarded Platinum and Gold Awards in 11 End User and nine Reseller categories. KONICA MINOLTA was awarded Readers' Choice recognition in the following categories: End User Platinum Award: Speed & Efficiency of Installation: Today, end users expect the MFP to work with minimal administrative effort and overhead. Device manufacturers and solutions providers now cater to the IT experts within the enterprise. This sophisticated group demands Web-based device configuration software, multi-device management software, and more comprehensive on-line documentation to make the configuration of MFPs faster and less-error-prone process. End-users were polled to learn how they rate each manufacturer's channel on speed and quality of installation, with KONICA MINOLTA earning a Platinum Award. End User Platinum Award: Color Productivity (2nd YEAR IN A ROW): Controlling color costs while maintaining high productivity is another critical issue, with manufacturers looking to deliver systems that satisfy both the need for controlling the high cost of color output while at the same time not hindering day-to-day productivity of the device. End-users were surveyed to learn how they view color productivity of each manufacturer, with KONICA MINOLTA earning a Platinum Award for a second year in a row. Reseller Platinum Award: Color Range (of Products) (2nd YEAR IN A ROW): Color is a diverse, fast moving and aggressively fought-over market where resellers vie for lucrative after-sales market sales, placing everything from desktop printers and workgroup MFPs through to pre-press proofing solutions and production megaliths. This added complexity brings with it a more diverse range of requirements, workflow demands, and types of users than the monochrome arena. These variables in turn place higher challenges upon the manufacturer to create a diverse color range capable of satisfying all these needs. End-users were surveyed to learn how they view the color range of products for each manufacturer, with KONICA MINOLTA earning a Platinum Award for a second year in a row. End User Gold Award: Monochrome Productivity: Within the enterprise, most documents are still printed in monochrome. Therefore, monochrome MFP speed and availability still remains the key factor in overall productivity. But productivity is much more than just "speeds and feeds." MFPs are now integrated with the rest of the IT infrastructure, and productivity relates more to keeping the entire workflow process running smoothly and efficiently. BERTL asked its end-user readers to rate the productivity levels of their MFP devices. KONICA MINOLTA was awarded a Gold Award. End User Gold Award: Monochrome Image Quality (2nd YEAR IN A ROW): Monochrome still makes up the vast majority of document production in the world today. Monochrome image quality has come a long way in the last few years especially in the areas of halftone reproduction and fine line definition thanks, in large part, to advances in toner quality BERTL polled their end-user readers how they viewed each manufacturer's overall ability to deliver high-quality monochrome output. KONICA MINOLTA continues its excellence with a Gold Award for the second year in a row. Reseller Gold Award: Monochrome Range (of Products): Monochrome is still the dominant form of printing. Therefore users still expect manufacturers to have a strong monochrome lineup. And manufacturers strategically use a strong monochrome lineup to gain a following from resellers. The reseller's satisfaction with the monochrome range at its disposal is also dependent upon the customer mix with which it serves. To understand this complex subject, BERTL surveyed their resellers to learn how successfully manufacturers have targeted their monochrome product range. KONICA MINOLTA was awarded a Gold Award on the merit of its monochrome line of innovative bizhubTM and bizhub PROTM products. BERTL is pleased that our large membership base is so proactive when it comes to responding to our surveys. The Readers' Choice awards that KONICA MINOLTA received are verification that this manufacturer's commitment to reliability and quality is not going unnoticed in the End-user and Reseller communities, says Margie Davis, BERTL Managing Director. One end user from the BERTL survey had this to say, "Both the bizhub C250 and bizhub 420 are exceptional multifunction units. We found that these machines were superior to similar manufacturer's units. The fact that scanning was included at no additional charge was a huge bonus." "KONICA MINOLTA is very honored to be a recipient of six BERTL's 2006 Readers' Choice Platinum and Gold Awards, including some for the second year in a row," said Bill Brewster, Vice President, Marketing, KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS U.S.A., INC. "These awards represent the voices of the End User and Reseller communities, and highlight our unwavering commitment to reliability and image quality." "We are especially pleased with the BERTL Readers' Choice Platinum Awards for our color products for the second consecutive year, recognizing the depth and breadth of our product line and the productivity we bring to our clients," Brewster added. In a relatively short period of time, KONICA MINOLTA climbed to the top market share position in color*, and we look to continue that momentum. Our innovative bizhub color products backed by the best after-sales customer care establish truly beneficial customer relationships, enabling us to continue our growth momentum."