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Nine companies form digital photo industry group
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Copyright © 1997 Nando.net
SAN FRANCISCO (September 30, 1997 7:33 p.m. EDT nando.net) - Nine companies -- including Eastman Kodak Co., Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. -- said Tuesday they formed an industry group to jointly develop technology and software for digital photography.
The member of the Digital Imaging Group will work together to ensure that vendors of digital cameras, photo-editing software and other equipment will use the same technology standards.
The companies said the digital photography industry, expected to grow to about $150 billion by 2000, must back just one standard to encourage consumer sales growth.
Digital cameras use computer chips instead of film to store photographs. Because the photos are stored in digital format, photographers can use personal computers to edit pictures and send them to other people through the Internet.
"This is a technology and marketing thrust," said Rob Aronoff, acting president of the Digital Imaging Group. The group will own the FlashPix standard, which specifies how cameras and software will handle digital photos.
The nine companies in the group are Kodak, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Adobe Systems Inc., Canon Inc. , Fuji Photo Film Co., International Business Machines Corp., Intel Corp. and closely held Live Picture Inc.
At least 18 more companies, including Polaroid Corp. , plan to join the group, Aronoff said.
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