Kodak to Brand and Distribute the First Digital Frames Connected to StoryBox Network
April 5, 2000
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SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation -
Agreement Now Includes Kodak-Branded Connected Frames and Kodak
Photofinishing Services for the StoryBox Network
Weave Innovations, Inc., creators of the StoryBox(TM) platform, and Eastman Kodak Company announced that Kodak will be the first company to manufacture and sell frames that connect to the StoryBox Network.
The picture company plans to launch its product this summer. Based on a license for the frame design and the direct link to Weave's StoryBox Network, the Kodak product will let people share pictures among frames and order prints directly from Kodak. The frame will also display pictures stored in its own memory or on a CompactFlash(TM) card. The Kodak frame works with Weave's StoryBox Network. By subscribing to the StoryBox Network, people can link their digital cameras and frames into a network for viewing and sharing pictures without a personal computer.
This announcement expands the Kodak-Weave relationship. Announced at Demo 2000, the relationship entails a Kodak investment in Weave Innovations, the ability to interact with the StoryBox Network from Kodak Picture CD, and Kodak photofinishing services as the way to get prints from pictures on the StoryBox Network.
"We're very pleased that the world's first name in photography will be the first brand name to appear on frames for the StoryBox Network," said Robert Siegel, president and CEO, Weave Innovations, Inc. "Weave has invented the easiest way ever created to view and share pictures, and we're glad to have Kodak helping to create this experience."
"Kodak is committed to making picture-sharing easier, more convenient, and more accessible for people; Weave's StoryBox Network is an innovative way of doing that," said Willy Shih, senior vice president, Eastman Kodak Company, and president, Digital and Applied Imaging. "This is one more way we're growing the market for digital pictures."
The StoryBox Platform
Fundamentally simplifying the way people share and print pictures, the StoryBox platform reinvents the picture frame. The StoryBox platform consists of the StoryBox Connected Frame and the StoryBox Network. The StoryBox Connected Frame is a digital picture frame with a brilliant photo-realistic color display, local storage for up to 36 pictures, and a modem connected to the Internet. The StoryBox Network is an easy, convenient, and affordable network for viewing, sharing and enjoying pictures with or without a personal computer. For everyday consumers, the StoryBox Connected Frame completes the digital photography experience for the real world by combining digital cameras with the power of the StoryBox Network to immortalize photographic memories, display them in the home, and instantly share them with friends and loved ones.
Also included with the StoryBox Network are subscriptions to receive highly personalized and relevant "snapshots" of information from leading online resources. Strategic partners for the StoryBox platform include CMGI, E! Online, Eastman Kodak Company, MSNBC, NaviNet, SportsLine.com, The Weather Channel, and TrafficStation.
About Weave Innovations
Founded in 1998, Weave Innovations, Inc. is focused on creating new categories of interpersonal communication products powered by innovative technologies that are transparently woven into everyday objects. Weave Innovations' first product, the StoryBox Connected Frame and StoryBox Network, takes photographs out of the shoebox and into your life!(SM). The Weave Innovations management team consists of experienced executives and engineers from storied Silicon Valley-based companies, such as Intel Corporation, Silicon Graphics Inc., and Wink Communications. Investors include Maveron LLC, Eastman Kodak Company, Pacific Century CyberWorks, The Phoenix Partners, Peterson Ventures and Ridge Ventures. For more information, please visit www.weaveinnovations.com or www.storybox.com.
About Kodak
Since essentially inventing consumer photography in 1880 with the introduction of the first roll film camera, Eastman Kodak Company has focused its energies on making picture-taking easy and accessible to everyone, amateur and professional alike. With a full line of consumer films and cameras, single-use cameras, consumer digital cameras, inkjet media, and supporting products and services, Kodak maintains that focus -- making it easy for everyone to get his or her pictures -- through all its offerings, regardless of technology. For more information customers can visit www.kodak.com/go/storybox.
Note to Editors: StoryBox and Weave Innovations are trademarks of Weave Innovations, Inc. StoryBox Network is a servicemark of Weave Innovations, Inc. Kodak is a registered trademark of Eastman Kodak Company. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: Weave Innovations, Santa Clara | Aaron Mata, 408/330-6398 | amata@weaveinnovations.com | www.weaveinnovations.com | or | Eastman Kodak Company | Joe Runde, 716/726-7740 | joseph.runde@kodak.com |
