[APML] Kodak Shifting its Focus away from Film

["Kevin Wigell" <kwemail@twcny.rr.com>]

Well, this comes as no surprise to anyone here, I'm sure, but there was a front page article in today's Wall Street Journal headlined: "Kodak Shifts Focus From Film, Betting Future on Digital Lines". I think you have to have a paid subscription to read the entire article on the WSJ's website, but here's a brief excerpt from the article:

Finally yielding to technology changes that have made its signature product outdated, Eastman Kodak Co. is preparing a big strategic move away from traditional film and plans to bet its future on new digital markets.
In a risky move that the company characterizes as a historic shift, Kodak announced Thursday that it will boost investment in nonphotographic areas and make new forays into digital territory dominated by big, entrenched competitors. It intends to compete head-on with Hewlett-Packard Co., Canon Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. by launching a line of ink-jet printers for consumers, an effort that could be several years away. Kodak , leveraging an existing joint venture, also plans to expand its product line in the high-end digital-printing market, in a challenge to leaders Xerox Corp. and H-P. Kodak plans to slash its dividend to 50 cents from $1.80 to help fund the revamp.
At the same time, the company says it will make no more significant long-term investments in traditional consumer film -- nothing, it says, as ambitious as its move to develop the alternative-format Advanced Photo System in 1996.

So, it sounds as if Kodak is moving to all but abandon film. I wonder what this will mean to the rest of the film industry?

I sure hope that 50 rolls of Supra 400 in my fridge holds out for a long, long time.

Kevin Wigell
www.kwastronomy.com



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