Kodak Introduces Broad Array of Products at Photokina Underscoring Confidence in Future of infoimaging Industry
Eastman Kodak Company
www.kodak.com
Eastman Kodak Company introduced, at Photokina 2002, a broad array of traditional and digital photographic products and services that will give consumers, retailers, and professionals alike better ways to take, print and share pictures, extending the company's leadership position in imaging.
"The products we are introducing here at Photokina, from easy-to-use one-time-use cameras for consumers, to traditional photographic papers that last more than a century, to a breakthrough new 14-mega pixel digital camera for professionals, prove far better than words that Kodak is investing for future growth," said Daniel A. Carp, Kodak's chairman and chief executive officer.
Despite the current economic situation, Carp is bullish on the long- term prospects for the imaging industry and Kodak's leading role in delivering the benefits of the digital transition to customers.
"Every indication points to a continued appetite for pictures by consumers and commercial customers, despite the current tough economy," Carp added. "As the economy resumes growth, we expect the $80 billion worldwide photography industry to play a major role in the broader category of infoimaging, a $385 billion market formed by the convergence of imaging science and information technology. Kodak is well positioned within this field of opportunity in its consumer, commercial and professional businesses."
Kodak's investments are guided by four key strategies, according to Martin Coyne, II, executive vice president and head of the company's Photography Group. The group accounts for about 70% of Kodak's sales, which totaled $13.2 billion last year.
These four strategies, which Kodak calls the Critical Few, are:
- Expand the benefits of film.
- Drive output the printing of pictures in all forms.
- Make digital imaging easier.
- Create new businesses and new markets.
"Everything we do starts with the customer in mind," Coyne said. "We begin by understanding first what the customer needs, and then we work to develop products and services that give them better pictures and better ways to share those pictures."
A sampling of the Kodak products and services being introduced at Photokina reflect the company's effort to fulfill the four key strategies. For example:
Kodak is expanding the benefits of film with a completely new lineup of one-time-use cameras, the fastest growing traditional photographic product. New products cover all segments of the market, including a high- performance Kodak Ultra model that offers picture-taking performance that compares with a reloadable camera; a specialty Kodak Sport model for underwater use capable of picture taking at depths of 10 meters; and the Kodak Fun, a value tier offering that brings Kodak quality to price conscious consumers.
Kodak is making digital easier for professionals and consumers. A stunning new digital camera for professionals features a near 14 megapixel sensor and the industry's first 35-mm size CMOS sensor in an SLR model, giving professional photographers unprecedented performance and freedom. And the latest models in the company's EasyShare family of consumer digital cameras, led by a sleek, titanium-bodied zoom model, are the easiest-to-use digital cameras available from any manufacturer and are becoming the de facto industry standard for ease of use in consumer digital photography, according to industry reports.
Kodak is helping customers generate more output with new photographic papers for professionals, as well as consumer snapshots that will last more than a century in typical home display, enabling people to enjoy their photographs for generations. These papers are designed to produce outstanding results in either optical or digital processing equipment. Kodak also introduced a totally new family of photo kiosks designed to make it easier than ever for consumers to get great prints from their digital cameras at retail, or to make existing photographs better with easy-to-use software to improve and enhance pictures, making it easy to create enlargements, gifts and photo novelty items.
Kodak demonstrated at Photokina the Kodak mobile photo album, a new business concept it is exploring to link the power of pictures with mobile communications. In test today in Germany, consumers can have a retailer upload their pictures to a special web site. They can then call up their images on the newest generation of mobile telephones and share their images with others via wireless communications. The company's components business also introduced a 22-megapixel image sensor the highest resolution digital imaging sensor available to the market today designed to give other camera manufacturers a device that brings Kodak technology to a broader set of customers.
Eastman Kodak Company
www.kodak.com
