Kodak Outlines Consumer Digital Strategy To Propel Its Brand Online
January 25, 2000
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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation -
Sees Robust Growth of Digital Products & Services
Along with Continued Film Growth
Eastman Kodak Company today outlined its plans to let people do more than ever with their pictures in the rapidly emerging market for digital photography products and online services.
"The digital world opens a treasure chest of picture possibilities for consumers, and Kodak is prepared to meet their needs," Daniel A. Carp, Kodak Chief Executive Officer and President, said here today in meetings with investors and the news media. "We are using our scale, scope, retail infrastructure and pre-eminent brand to provide consumers with unsurpassed digital products and online services that will build the premier online community."
To win in this rapidly evolving market, the company's strategy is: - Extending Kodak as the pre-eminent online imaging brand. - Growing digitization for the mass-market. - Remaining the highest value provider of key branded digital
products and services. - Maintaining a long-term leadership position for consumer digital
still cameras in key markets. - Building the premier online photo community, supported by
compelling content, services, applications, products and
marketing.
"Our strong and growing traditional core business in photography will allow us to fund our digital strategy over the long term," Carp said. "During 1999 alone, U.S. film use grew 14% -- the equivalent of adding a market the size of France to the U.S. in one year alone."
In that regard, Kodak sees both film and digital imaging growing throughout its five year planning horizon. "Our strong commitment to both digital imaging and online services as well as our strong film business will enable Kodak to benefit from growth in both categories," Carp said. "We see the convergence of film and digital driving more pictures and more output. Increased demand for hard copy output - traditional photographic prints and prints made from digital pictures, will drive output growth as well."
Kodak's retail channel strength, its existing online presence through Kodak PhotoNet online, its "You've Got Pictures" offering with America Online and Kodak.com, and its unmatched photofinishing capability, provide the necessary on-ramps from image capture to online services and off-ramps from online services to hardcopy output for building the leading photo community. In fact, over the past year, Kodak built the largest online photo infrastructure anywhere. Now the objective is to popularize online photography at the mass-market level with product innovation and advertising support.
To do this, Kodak will help consumers use either film or digital cameras to participate in online photography. "The most important emotional content in the world is owned by consumers in their personal pictures," Carp said. "There is no `one' consumer in photography. Different people have different needs and photographic behaviors. Kodak serves the full range of consumers with a range of products for the casual snapshooter to serious photographers, for people who don't own computers to wired consumers."
In a six-week period ending January 15, 2000, Kodak scanned approximately 40 million pictures. As of December, Qualex was scanning approximately 3.5% of all rolls processed. This lab infrastructure has the capacity to scan 4 million pictures per day.
Kodak.com already stands as an award-winning photo community, attracting more than 400,000 unique visitors per week. Within Kodak.com, the Picture Playground neighborhood generates some 500,000 page views per month. On average, visitors spend 60 minutes at the site and upload between 5 and 10 pictures per visit.
The company's unmatched photofinishing network gives it tremendous competitive advantage in serving those consumers who wish to obtain their digital prints either at retail or online. "Internet printing requires scale and scope, which is Kodak's strength. Right now, in the U.S. alone, Qualex is processing 1 million rolls of film and producing more than 40 million prints each working day."
For consumers who prefer to print at home, the company already has a leading share position for photograde home inkjet media. In addition, Kodak offers consumers the Kodak Personal Picture Maker, an ink jet printer jointly developed with Lexmark, a leader in ink jet printing.
The rapid convergence of film and digital imaging products and services should lead to a 50% increase in prints by 2005, up from just about 30 billion in 1999. Kodak expects the overwhelming majority of these prints to be made at retail or through online photofinishing services.
"This may be the most exciting time in photo industry since George Eastman invented consumer picture taking 100 years ago with the introduction of the Brownie Camera," said Carp. "We are experiencing unprecedented growth--fueled by renewed interest in photography, digital camera sales, digitization, digital services and the Internet. People have--and always will--associate Kodak with photography and pictures, whether those pictures are film, digital or on the Internet."
Editor's Note: For additional information about Kodak, visit our web site on the Internet at: www.kodak.com/
CONTACT: Eastman Kodak | Media Contact: | Charles S. Smith | 716/724-4513 (voice) | 716/781-2173 (pager) | 716/724-0964 (fax) | cssmith@kodak.com |
