Craig,
  Kodak and Fuji will both have problems down the road regarding revenue from 35mm film.
  CompactFlash is a "discontinuous innovation".  In other words, it is a technology which could eventually supplant the use of 35mm in many applications.  This is true because of the inroads made by electronic commerce and news publication, the convenience of e-mail, the acceptance of high technology by the masses reflected in its purest form by such devices as the desktop PC, the public's insatiable demand for instant gratification, the high quality of end user hardware such as the digital camera, and the unstoppable momentum of the Internet.
  A "continuous innovation" would be represented by an improvement over a prior invention which did not directly 'obsolete' the precursor.  For example, air filled rubber tires replaced solid core tires, then came white walls, then inner tubes were replaced with tubeless tires, then steel-belted radials, then new tread designs,...  A practical and affordable hover craft or ceramic electromagnetic vehicle would be an example of a "discontinuous innovation" because it would essentially eliminate the mass market for rubber tires.
  Flash memory applications like CF will have a significant impact on the utility of consumer electronics products.  Common sense says it will be so.
  Ausdauer |