Slog Comments
Kodak Files for Bankruptcy
4
Corning is a great example of an old-line company, also based in New York, that has been in many frying-pan/fire situations and managed to re-invent itself multiple times. It's gone from making pedestrian consumer products (Corelle) to the highest of high-tech fiber optics and touch screens, with the same basic core technology. It also stocked most chemistry and biology labs with glassware, microscope slides, and plastic cell-culture vessels.
Sadly, I expect Kodak will sell most of their patents to patent trolls, stifling further innovation in imaging and printing technology. But my family still has many Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides as bright as the day they were taken, thanks both to great chemistry and dry, clean desert air.
Sadly, I expect Kodak will sell most of their patents to patent trolls, stifling further innovation in imaging and printing technology. But my family still has many Kodachrome and Ektachrome slides as bright as the day they were taken, thanks both to great chemistry and dry, clean desert air.
6
One day I want to have a black and white processing dark-room-yurt (prolly wont live in a house with enough sq ft to have it inside)
But yeahhhhhh I wouldn't do color.
But yeahhhhhh I wouldn't do color.
8
Remember.
Do you remember
The times of your life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZpaNJqF4…
And...for post SOPA depression:
http://www.smugopedia.com/
9
@5: Blame Kodak (and Polaroid before it) for not seeing that there was an easier and cheaper solution in the casual/instant photo market. Kodak could have been a leader in the digital market any time between 1975 - 2000s, but did nothing with it because it wasn't as lucrative as selling the film, the paper, the chemicals, and the processing and the cameras. They totally forgot that people won't pay more for something that's "good enough", and digital became "good enough" to replace them in the mid-late 2000s.
10
It is very sad to see this happen but not unexpected. I freelanced at Kodak in Rochester from 2004 & 2005 and the writing on the wall was visible even then. They completely dropped the ball on digital and were struggling to catch up. Financially they were struggling even then. They were tearing down buildings on their campus because it was cheaper than paying the utilities on them. Every time I went to work there there alway seemed to be less and less people doing research in building I worked in. The last few times I worked there that wing of the building was completely empty except for the small studio were I worked. It was kind of spooky going through this huge empty cavernous space that had been full of activity the year before.
12
Kodak milked their perceived ownership of the market for photographic materials for a long time. Back in the 80s I did a lot of photography and almost every Kodak competitor,particularly Fuji, made better film and photo paper. Kodak didn't seem to take the competition seriously. No surprise that Fuji is a healthier company today than Kodak.
13
Their spinoff, Eastman Chemical will soldier on, though. They're the leading producer of the plastic for soda and water bottles, as well as a bunch of other industrial chemicals and synthetic fibers. The spinoff has been quite profitable since the beginning.
Kodak will probably survive, if as a much smaller company. Even with the shift to digital projection, I think they still manage to sell a couple million miles of movie film every year. It's their consumer-products division that screwed up.
Kodak will probably survive, if as a much smaller company. Even with the shift to digital projection, I think they still manage to sell a couple million miles of movie film every year. It's their consumer-products division that screwed up.
14
@5 - Why smartphones more than any other digital camera? Smartphones have crippled the point-and-shoot market, but Kodak wasn't making any money there anywhere. It would be like Gillette trying to stay afloat if suddenly all razors came with infinite blades, or printer manufacturers if nobody ever needed to buy ink again. No film, no business.
16
reminds me of Pan Am, and Polaroid - greatness squandered by an ossified view of the world - though perhaps the loss of the catalyst of a great leader (Juan Trippe, Edwin Land) is relevant also. Kodak lasted long beyond the death of Eastman.
17
@13
Motion Picture film usage is down as well. Though there are still a number of companies shooting film, even more are opting to go digital with such cameras as the Red Cam and Arri's Alexa. Also Canon's 5d & 7d have seen a lot of usage in the past couple of years. This surprised even Canon. I also mention the Canons because Kodak was the developer of the CMOS sensor that they use. Also, as for motion picture film, you have to remember that Kodak has a huge competitor in Fuji. Fuji has been very aggressive and successful in that market for the past 15 years or so.
Motion Picture film usage is down as well. Though there are still a number of companies shooting film, even more are opting to go digital with such cameras as the Red Cam and Arri's Alexa. Also Canon's 5d & 7d have seen a lot of usage in the past couple of years. This surprised even Canon. I also mention the Canons because Kodak was the developer of the CMOS sensor that they use. Also, as for motion picture film, you have to remember that Kodak has a huge competitor in Fuji. Fuji has been very aggressive and successful in that market for the past 15 years or so.
18
I went to school in the area, and my lab mate's husband worked there. They used to panic with every round of layoffs. They just completely screwed up seeing how digital cameras would revolutionize their market.
19
Kodak had a lot of opportunities they missed. Digital photography being just one. For example, they used to make copiers, then quit. Film competitors Fuji (Fuji Xerox) and Konica still make office equipment. In fact Konica Minolta does not make film or cameras any more.
20
@9, their digital camera business was still alive, even if poorly planned, until recently. The market they were in -- plain ol' consumer point-and-shoots -- has disappeared almost completely because of smartphones. My HTC's camera has as good a feature set and resolution as a whole host of Kodak cameras. The other camera makers are not much better off, unless they can stake out a claim in the "prosumer" or DSLR market (or the new interchangeable non-reflex models like the Olympus PEN).
There will be more bankruptcies in this market soon for the companies that don't have other businesses, like the copiers @19 mentions (i.e., Ricoh).
There will be more bankruptcies in this market soon for the companies that don't have other businesses, like the copiers @19 mentions (i.e., Ricoh).
21
@20 Kyocera (Yashica, Contax) quit the camera business, too. Kyocera is a diversified company, making solar panels, among other things including printers. Now that cameras are part of a phone and essentially a computer peripheral, the mistique of photography is gone, just like how mp3 players largely killed the mistique of audio. There are far fewer stereo manufacturers today as most brand names are owned by one of the surviving companies For most consumers, good enough really is, as long as it is easy to use.
22
Moving a company from an insanely profitable near monopoly when some new thin-margins change happens to your core business is a hard transition. Especially for a public company.
It's a hard sell: Our high margin products will disappear in 10-15 years, long after you will have sold your stock, so let's accelerate the process by riding that wave into lower margins as fast as we can! If we dont, someone else will. We'll make less money now but might still exist that way....unless someone else with less baggage and cleverer ideas beats us (which is likely). Who's with me?!?!?
It's a hard sell: Our high margin products will disappear in 10-15 years, long after you will have sold your stock, so let's accelerate the process by riding that wave into lower margins as fast as we can! If we dont, someone else will. We'll make less money now but might still exist that way....unless someone else with less baggage and cleverer ideas beats us (which is likely). Who's with me?!?!?
25
Organized content is the best way to display or post an article, thank you for making it easy to digest your post.
National Help Center Law Group
National Help Center Law Group
Comments (25) RSS