Business News
Kodak Celebrates 125 Years of Innovation at Photokina
Friday 17. September 2010 - New Products and Services Demonstrate Kodaks Commitment to Transforming the Photo Category
With Photokina, the worlds leading fair for imaging and photography as its backdrop, Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) will celebrate 125 years of innovation, unveiling the next wave of industry-changing technologies. The company that invented consumer photography in 1885, Kodak is bridging the digital and print imaging worlds with revolutionary new products offering multi-channel production and fulfillment solutions for photo merchandising including the KODAK Picture Kiosk and KODAK Adaptive Picture Exchange (APEX) for photo retailers and KODAK NEXPRESS Photo Platform for professional labs and commercial printers.
“Our heritage is innovation, and our focus is imaging. We invented photographic film, creating the market for consumer photography more than a century ago and have been an industry leader in imaging innovation since that time,” said John OGrady, Regional Managing Director, Europe, Africa and Middle East Region, Chairman and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. “As we move into the next 125 years, Kodak will transform the category through an ongoing stream of customer-focused solutions that will excite end users.”
At the epicenter of Kodaks celebration, the company will showcase its new photo book printing capability on the KODAK NEXPRESS Photo Platform, using it to print “CXXV + BYND Celebrating Kodak Innovation: 125 Years and Beyond,” a keepsake calendar of Kodaks continued innovations and contributions to the imaging field.
Photo books are the fastest growing photo merchandise segment, with revenue representing roughly half of all revenues in the category year over year. Kodak photo book solutions help photo merchandisers across the value chain expand beyond traditional photo services and differentiate their businesses. Kodaks focus is to enable an exceptional consumer experience at a variety of touch points including in-store, online, and at the desktop; with full-featured creative tools, simple intuitive ordering interfaces, plus multi-channel production and fulfillment options.
At retail, KODAK Picture Kiosks give consumers the ability to create high-quality photo books in-store – literally at the touch of a button. Kodaks SMARTFIT Technology enables consumers to assemble a photo book from home in minutes; about the same time it takes to order a latte at a favorite coffee shop. For signature life moments, KODAK PROFESSIONAL Collections is a unique new service for consumers that provides access to designers to create one-of-a-kind stunning heirloom albums from their digital images. For retailers, Kodak offers the highly modular APEX dry lab and KODAK Creative Production Software, a system-agnostic workflow software designed specifically for the photo-specialty retailer to offer premium products, such as photo books. On the pro-lab and commercial fronts, Kodaks Photo Website Hosting and Desktop Premium Product software links print systems to photo creation and ordering applications on the Web and from the desktop.
PHOTO BOOKS AND BEYOND
REKINDLING THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH PHOTO
Kodak is giving retailers plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of the photo printing category. New premium product strategies from Kodak illuminate the path to success for photo merchandisers. For the complete article by Nicki Zongrone, General Manager, Retail Systems Solutions and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company, go to www.kodak.com/go/photokina.
Kodak will also be unveiling new products and services that span its entire customer set, ranging from consumers to professional photographers to high-end commercial printers.
KODAK NEXPRESS Photo Platform
The all-new KODAK NEXPRESS Photo Platform transforms the category by combining photo quality output with exceptional productivity for the production of printed photo products, including photo books, calendars, greeting cards, 4×6 prints, magnets, and other photo products. Designed to deliver unique customized effects such as raised printing and matte or gloss coating, the NEXPRESS Photo Platform is ideal for photo specialty printers, photo labs, commercial printers, and others who serve customers in the photo space.
KODAK D4000 Duplex Photo Printer
Kodak is pushing the envelope of output quality for retailers. The compact KODAK D4000 Duplex Printer delivers exceptional print quality and reliability in a printer designed to create beautiful double-sided, borderless photo books, but can also produce calendars and personalized greeting cards.
FILM FOR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
Continuing its ongoing commitment to film photography, Kodak introduced the new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 Film, featuring the finest grain structure available in a 400 speed color negative film. The new film incorporates technology used in KODAK VISION Motion Picture Film, plus Antenna Dye Sensitization in the cyan and magenta emulsion layers to achieve its unbeatable fine grain. Photographers will appreciate the beautiful, natural skin tones and superb color reproduction of this new film, a long-time trademark of the KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA Film family.
In addition, Kodak will showcase its award-winning digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and digital frames that make it simple for consumers to share their pictures and videos with family and friends and relive lifes moments. New products include the stylish KODAK EASYSHARE M590 Digital Camera, the worlds thinnest* 5X optical zoom digital camera. The EASYSHARE M590 Camera features Kodak’s exclusive Share Button that lets consumers tag pictures and videos directly on the camera for effortless uploading to popular social networking sites. The innovative KODAK PULSE Digital Frame, with Wi-Fi connectivity and its own personal email address, allows consumers to email pictures directly to the frame and also connects to FACEBOOK and KODAK Gallery sites. The sleek KODAK PLAYTOUCH Video Camera, with a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen, features Kodak’s Share Button, full 1080p HD video, on-camera editing and more, making it simple and fun for consumers to capture and share their memories.
Kodak will also be demonstrating the new KODAK ESP 9250 All-in-One (AiO) Printer; the smart choice for people who want to easily print and share photos and documents from anywhere with the latest Wi-Fi and networking capability. The ESP 9250 Printer offers the lowest total ink replacement costs1 in the industry – a transformation in itself for inkjet printing.
K-ZONE LIVE
Photokina visitors to the Kodak booth can partake in “K-Zone Live,” Kodaks highly touted, live discussions on the topics most pressing in the imaging industry today. K-Zone Live, hosted by Brian Burmeister, brings industry experts together to dive into some of the hottest topics in the industry today. Each day, Kodak will host the following four sessions, which will also be streamed, live at www.kzonelive.com:
10:30 – 11:00 a.m. – Social Media and Photography
12:00 – 12:45 p.m. – The Retail Experience
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. – The Future of Imaging
3:30 – 4:15 p.m. – Photography
(For complete K-Zone schedule and to view the show live, go to www.kzonelive.com.)