Apple and Google go head-to-head over Kodak patent sale

[buggz]

<<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/07/apple_google_bid_kodak_patents/>>

The really sad part of this to me was:
"Patent sales like this are big business, enough so that Kodak hopes the sale could help it dig its way out of the red and into being a printer company."

Kodak wishes to emerge as a printer company?
Sad...

[mcherry]

Well it kind of makes sense no?

[vinny]

maybe kodak should do a poll here to see if anyone WANTS a kodak printer. They just don't get it.

[mcherry]

maybe kodak should do a poll here to see if anyone WANTS a kodak printer. They just don't get it.

Do you really think that LF film photographers (or film photographers in general, moving forward) really make up enough of a market that they should base their business model on what we might like? That's absurd.

[jnantz]

they are pretty good consumer printers, and the ink doesn't cost 100$ to fill it up.
i wish they made a pigment ink printer with a 5x7 transparency adapter ..
that cost 10$ to fill, i would buy it in a heartbeat ..

[Brian C. Miller]

They have a good business for commercial printers, but their consumer (multifunction office) printers are a lost cause. When I initially found out that Kodak made printers, I had hoped for something to challenge Epson and Canon. No luck. I don't print enough office-type documents to be inconvenienced by the price of Canon refills. Sure, various families who have print-happy children would love a Kodak, but otherwise, no.

[Jody_S]

Well, their consumer printers do have a cute orange line on the front.... Maybe I should get one.

[RichardSperry]

All the reports I've read have the bidders lowballing their offers for the patents.

Looks to me that the only thing they will be good for is patent trolling anyway. What innovation would one expect from them anyway? The technology has moved on and surpassed those original inventions already.

"they are pretty good consumer printers, and the ink doesn't cost 100$ to fill it up."
So how will they compete then? If their competitors give their printers away for free, and sell the ink. They won't be making money on either. Companies that make expensive razors and use cheap blades are all out of business now.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

If Kodak does emerge intact, my understanding is they have waiting in the wings a whole new line of high end desktop printers with 8 or more pigment inks and a gloss overcoat. These purportedly use reasonably priced cartridges and the print quality is top flight. If so, this could seriously present a challenge Epson and Canon--that is, if they ever learn how to run their business lean and mean.

[DrTang]

Companies that make expensive razors and use cheap blades are all out of business now.

ever price those four or five bladed razor refills? I was shocked

[Lenny Eiger]

maybe kodak should do a poll here to see if anyone WANTS a kodak printer. They just don't get it.

This is spot on.

I bought an Aztek Premier right when the entire world (except for us LF'ers) was going digital. Smaller and smaller market. I'm an idiot.

By the same token, if we keep going the way this trend is going, there might be more printers for a couple of years, and then people (consumers) will simply stop printing. They will look at their images on an iPad - or competitor's version of it - their phones and on their computers screens and tv's. Artists might print things up large, but our culture doesn't support the arts, so that market will get smaller and smaller.

As for Ivan's comment, I'd love to see someone give Epson a serious run for their money. But I don't think Kodak has the brains...

They're going down. It'll take a while, but you can't make that many stupid mistakes, for that many years, and survive.

Lenny

[Frank Petronio]

Desktop printing shrunk by half between 2005 and 2012 I read in one of the Kodak reports in the Rochester paper. While printing will never disappear, most of the college kids I've met don't even own a printer, they can deliver their assignments electronically and so what else do they need to print?

I'd imagine the high quality photo output devices are a small but stable market for Epson, and I am mostly happy with Epson after experimenting with HP and Canons, which were workable but had quirks. I have no compelling reason to want to experiment, I want to get 5 to 10 years out of an Espon, there isn't much room for a competitor like Kodak.

I was feeling pretty good about how Kodak was handling bankruptcy and downsizing until the same article reminded me that Perez had Kodak buy back $5 Billion shares of their own stock in 2007. Back then they had a lot of cash. Dumb, dumb dumb.

[Curt]

ever price those four or five bladed razor refills? I was shocked

Yes! It's unbelievable. I tried a Walgreens one and cut my face on the first try. Other than an electric shaver or a straight blade it's pay the price or don't shave. So I decided to skip days when shaving isn't important. That look is in right now anyway.

[Mike Anderson]

Not looking good for Kodak:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/11/us-kodak-auction-idINBRE87A01J20120811

[jayabbas]

As a weekend job my wife sells Canon printers at Best Buy and all the reps from Canon, HP and Epson laughed when I told them of Kodaks intention. Like a plane going down over the ocean -- there's gonna be wreckage and carnage !!