Walter Banks wrote:

They have a lot of the early digital patents that are now close to timing out.
The interesting thing is they saw it coming and and actually tried to redirect
the company by developing early technology and products using digital
for still and moving imaging they were for whatever reason not able
to create a viable company around that, in part because they had the
imaging technology but lacked manufacturing and and the ability to
create product lines.

Kodak's product suffered from R&D that was too good, and marketing that wasn't
good enough.

For example, when VHS and BETA (before SuperBeta and SuperVHS) were king,
Kodak came out 8mm video. It was not sold successfully and died out. Years
later an incompatible 8mm system became popular, but Kodak got nothing from it.

They pioneered digital processing stations where you could scan in your
picture, manipulate it on a computer and then print it out. This was
to go hand in hand with the PhotoCD, but neither the PhotoCD nor their
units (based on SUN workstations) took off.

Eventually the technology caught up with them but by that time, their
machines were long since forgotten.

They produced "prosumer" digital cameras, with short battery life, high
quality lenses and sensors but at prices too high for anyone to buy.
Professional customers were not interested in their fixed lenses (albeit
high quality German ones) and consumers were not interested in high prices,
lenses better than the sensors, and battery life of an hour on a charge
in standby mode.

In short great technology in products that just did not provide what the
consumer wanted. With such a high corporate overhead that they could
not afford to make products in small numbers and allow them to evolve
into hits.

If Steve Jobs had the ability to take existing technology and figure out
how to combine and package it in a way that consumers wanted, Kodak had
the opposite, they took new technology and made products consumers did not
want.

Hopefully they will sell off their patents, trade secrets and formulae for
black and white film and paper to a small company which is able to use them.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM
My high blood pressure medicine reduces my midichlorian count. :-(