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Technology Stocks : A New Internet Stock Photoloft.com (LOFT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jerry cooper who wrote (69)	4/4/2000 5:40:00 PM
From: Curbstone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85

And it WILL be discovered too! This sector is heating up quickly. From last week: Tuesday March 28 5:54 PM ET Yahoo! Introduces Photo Features With Shutterfly NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo! Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news) is enlisting online digital photo service Shutterfly to help build Yahoo's photography destination within its Web network, the companies said on Tuesday. Yahoo's new service, Yahoo! Photos, allows users to upload digital photos onto the Web -- making it easier for them to view, share and send photos to others. The Yahoo/Shutterfly feature, set to launch on Tuesday, raises comparisons with their respective rivals America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) and Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE:EK - news), which introduced a joint service called ``You've Got Pictures' last November. Privately-held upstart Shutterfly was started by Netscape founder Jim Clark. ``In some ways, I would call this Yahoo-Shutterfly deal to be even broader than AOL-Kodak's 'You've Got Pictures,' because you don't have to be a subscriber to AOL's proprietary service to use it,' said Steve Hoffenberg, an analyst with market research firm Lyra Research. ``Any Web user can use these services." Yahoo! Photos is focused on the digital camera market and other digital sources for photos such as scanners and CD-ROMs. Registered Yahoo! users can plug in their passwords and upload pictures onto the Web, where they can be viewed or shared. ``We want to be completely agnostic as to what form those digital photos take,' said Mark Hull, senior producer with Yahoo!. ``Someone using a Kodak Picture CD can come to Yahoo! Photos and share their photos or order prints.' Yahoo! Photos allow users to order paper prints of its photos through the site. Shutterfly then provides the order fulfillment. Yahoo! will generate revenue from the usual advertising sources, but will also get transactional revenue from the finishing orders, Hull said. ``Our first step is to focus on the digital market,' Hull said. ``But our goal is to provide all of the services our customers want. If it appears that they want us to start providing developing and processing services, we'll certainly look into that.' By contrast, the ``You've Got Pictures' service allows a customer to bring an undeveloped roll of film to a photo lab, and the developed photos are then accessed through AOL's service. According to research conducted by Lyra and trade journal Photofinishing News, the market for online photofinishing will grow exponentially over the next three years. In 1999, 121 million consumer images from traditional film, scanners, and CD-ROMs were uploaded onto online photofinishing services, according to the report. By 2002, the report forecasts that over 4 billion film exposures will be uploaded. About 30 million photographs from digital cameras were uploaded to those services in 1999. By 2002, the report forecasts that number will jump to 1.5 billion. Kodak, for its part, welcomes the competition. ``We view ourselves as a leading provider of online picture services,' Kodak spokesman Paul Allen said. ``We already offer a wide range of online services. The newcomers to the market only prove the growth potential of the market and will expand the whole photography category.' Kodak shares have been punished in recent months by the perception that the company was slow to jump into the digital market, analysts have said. Kodak's shares have also been vulnerable to emerging competition from other online photo services, and impatience over when Kodak's digital portfolio would turn a profit. The company's digital business recorded a $17 million operating loss in the fourth quarter, compared with a $91 million loss in the year-earlier period. For the year, digital losses totaled $116 million, down from $262 million in 1998. Kodak shares were trading at 55 13/16, up 3/16, in late trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Hoffenberg noted, ``Shutterfly doesn't have the brand recognition of a Kodak. But partnering with the second largest property on the Web is a real coup, because it now participates in the revenue generated by all of the people who use Yahoo's services.' ``We want to be where the users are,' said Julie Herendeen, Shutterfly's vice president of marketing. ``Yahoo! has 120 million unique users. If even a fraction of those people use this service, it's a great deal for Shutterfly.' Shutterfly allows users to upload their digital photos, whether from digital cameras, CD-ROMs or scanners, onto the Internet and order physical prints to be delivered to their homes or any address they specify. Neither company would provide financial terms of the deal.