Kodak emerged from bankruptcy on Tuesday, but it is a Kodak
that few of us will recognize. Swamped by digital photography, technology that
Kodak invented, it has shed all consumer product lines. Gone are film and
digital cameras, film sales, and consumer photo developing. The "Kodak
Moment" is dead.
The "new" Kodak will concentrate on printing
technology for corporate customers, touch-screen sensor components and film for
the movie industry. Having decided to hang on to the motion picture film
business, Kodak already announced in mid-June that it would stop making
cellulose acetate, the base for movie film. At that time Kodak spokesperson
Christopher Veronda said, “We have years’ worth of inventory that we have built
up.” So, even as the "new" Kodak clings to motion picture film, it
has stopped making such film. With the continuing development of digital motion
picture cameras by Arri, Red, Canon, Sony and others, Kodak may never get to
use up all of that "years’ worth of inventory".
I wish Kodak all the best, but I fear for its future. Kodak
invented consumer photography 125 years ago and I am concerned about Kodak's
abandonment of consumer markets. It faces tough competition in its remaining
commercial markets, where Kodak has limited market share. Kodak has laid off
47,000 workers since 2003 and shed half of its remaining workforce in
bankruptcy. I see more layoffs in Kodak's future. Antonio Perez, Kodak's CEO, said,
"Kodak has a very strong brand all over the world." Unfortunately, it
is a brand that will no longer be associated with photography. Let us hope that
it becomes a brand of the future, and not just a brand of the past.
