Konica Minolta

is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-functional peripherals (MFPs) and digital print systems for the production printing market. Konica Minolta's Managed Print Service (MPS) is called Optimised Print Services. The company also makes optical devices, including lenses and LCD film; medical and graphic imaging products, such as X-ray image processing systems, colour proofing systems, and X-ray film; photometers, 3-D digitizers, and other sensing products; and textile printers. It once had camera and photo operations inherited from Konica and Minolta but they were sold in 2006 to Sony, with Sony's Alpha series being the successor SLR division brand. Konica Minolta was formed by a merger between Japanese imaging firms Konica and Minolta, announced on 7 January 2003 with the corporate structure completing the re-organization in October 2003. Different group companies, such as the operations in the headquarters and national operating companies, began the process around the same time, however the exact dates vary for each group company. Konica Minolta uses a "Globe Mark" logo that is similar to but slightly different from that of the former company. It also uses the same corporate slogan as the former Minolta company: "The Essentials of Imaging". On 19 January 2006 the company announced that it was quitting the camera business due to high financial losses. SLR camera service operations were handed over to Sony starting on 31 March 2006 and Sony has continued development of cameras that are compatible with Minolta autofocus lenses. Originally, in the negotiations, Konica Minolta wanted cooperation with Sony in camera equipment production rather than a sell-out deal, but Sony vehemently refused, saying that it would either acquire everything or leave everything that had to do with the camera equipment sector of KM.