Kodak made some really great products when they targeted the pro photo market.Originally Posted by Howard Tanger
Kodak made some junk when they targeted the mass market.
Kodak made something for everyone.
Now Kodak just seems to make stuff to try to please Wall Street.
I miss they days when they tried to please photographers!
Man I loved Kodak back then!
Kodak is a company that's trying to survive a seismic shift in the way people do what they made products to do. I have no idea whether they'll be able to survive but I hope they do and I give them credit for trying. So many other companies in their situation just gave up.Kodak made some really great products when they targeted the pro photo market.
Kodak made some junk when they targeted the mass market.
Kodak made something for everyone.
Now Kodak just seems to make stuff to try to please Wall Street.
I miss they days when they tried to please photographers!
Man I loved Kodak back then!
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
To Howeard and DBryant, i'm sorry that you disagree with me, and thats OK too, however when Kodak folded the B/W papers they had the worst VC papers and not much else. If you tested them grade for grade, there were huge differences from standard. Kodak once made wonderful b/w papers, I used them for a very long time but not in the last couple of years.
The other day I was looking at my paper samples from Kodak (and a long time ago, Ansco), there were stunning choices, not only of types but of surface. I'd sure like to see some Ektalures again, especially X,
Lynn
I've followed this thread over the weeks and haven't really made any comments.
But John I think you hit the nail on the head so to speak.
They need an iPod-equivalent innovation.
Bob G.
All natural images are analog. But the retina converts them to digital on their way to the brain.
Right. They need something hip, cool, mass marketable, and somewhat disposable.
They started with cameras and film, dropped the cameras, and now seem to be dropping film. The problem is finding a me-too-killer product. The iPod is a me-too product, but it leap-frogged all of the competition. Sony should have come out with the killer MP3 player, but they didn't. The iPhone is a me-too product, but it was so different, and it was from Apple, that everybody jumped on it.
Anoto produced digital paper and pen. The only advance from that would be the flex display technology, from E Ink. But where is Kodak in that?
The current Kodak film tech is amazing. When I saw what their motion picture film can do, I was amazed. Too bad it isn't available in sheet size. But film no longer has mind-share. Film exists for niche markets, and fortunately one of those markets is the motion picture industry.
So back to hip, cool, mass marketable, and somewhat disposable.
They should just invest in Apple stock and give up making things.
So long as we're to use the Apple Computer analogy-- remember that most everyone counted Apple as down-for-the-count for more than a decade while the WinTel juggernaut grew and grew like Topsy. Investors wrung their hands as Apple plodded along as a niche "artist-designer" brand with no more than about 5% of the market share. A trifling $4B annual sales company making a niche product.
Pretty nice position to be in, actually, waiting for a breakout moment with a few key products and a CEO change.
First HDD iPod was something completely different than the traditional core business, arriving in an already crowded field where they were not the originators nor particularly innovative, at first. Almost an ugly duckling compared to what was already available.
They seized the moment, largely by tapping into fierce brand loyalty--and a personality cult. (Said as I type this on a MBP).
Last edited by Ivan J. Eberle; 7-Apr-2011 at 17:24.
Probably too late for that.
Those that invested in Apple when it was in the crapper are the ones that cashed in.
Bob G.
All natural images are analog. But the retina converts them to digital on their way to the brain.
Kodak is out of iPod innovations, what they need is a guy named Jobs, Steve Jobs, a total control freak that steers the company into the the current century. Screw the inkjet business, they can't come in this late in the game and put out junky products just because they are painted yellow and black.
A real innovation would be to put the film division on it's own and create a more streamlined version like Harmon's Ilford. Right now they have product confusion. I am no longer looking to see what Kodak has, I go straight to Ilford and the other brands. When they killed paper and the really time tested great films that was the time they called it quits.
Kodak has been a has been now for a few decades.
off-topic, but...
I remember when Apple shot from $20 to $40. I kicked myself and said "damn, I missed the boat." Then it split and went to $80, and I thought, "geez, this time I really really missed the boat." Etc, etc, etc...
Apple is down about $30 from its recent peak. Not to spoil the surprise, but I guarantee they're working on cool new products as we speak.
This is certainly not investment advice, but... there's never a bad time to get into Apple.
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