On 24 Sep 2004 18:11:41 -0500, (Bob Monaghan)
wrote:


Let's not forget the good news buried in Kodak's "death of film" press
release (before back-treading..).

Kodak planned to reduce cost of their films to compete with Fuji for the
declining market of film sales volume "aggressively" - i.e., a price war!
;-) ;-)

Granted, Kodak may no longer make all the emulsions we want, but the ones
they do make, they will be selling for much less. Since they haven't been
putting $$ into basic film R&D for almost a decade now (longer for B&W),
they can't rely on their past technology advantages over Fuji or even
AGFA. So they will have to compete on price, and compete aggressively if
they don't want to lose market share and still significant film profits to
Fuji and Agfa and other players likely to bring out new and improved films
during the coming decade(s).

I see the fifteen cent made in China disposable cameras (vs. $1 disposable
cameras made in USA per recent thread posting from Kodak filing) as part
of this future "price war". Kodak has allowed competitors like Agfa to
dominate this lucrative and growing end of the film market for years. So I
wouldn't be surprised at a price war in disposable cameras aimed to
grabbing lost marketshare in this highly profitable segment from Agfa
et. al.

So if Kodak keeps to its announced plans, then we can expect to see even
lower prices for film stocks and disposable cameras etc., right? So
instead of film prices going up as sales decline, Kodak's forecast
suggests that film prices (in USA at least) may decline noticeably? ;-)

grins bobm


Ok, that is one rational way of looking at it, but just how many
folks put off buying film because it is too expensive now?

I would think a dramatic cut in prices would only lead to making film
unprofitable and more of a reason for publicly owned companies to end
production.

Taking this price cut along with what people in the business have
previously said, it sounds more like a "going out of business
firesale."

Costco charges $0.14 a 4x6 print for digital. Apparently, most of
their prints are still from film, although from the looks of the
station their volume has been declining. (need to verify this, looks
may be deceiving)