Kodak Exits Stage Left

Kodak has announced that they will be getting out of the camera business. This once American icon, recently filed for bankruptcy, and is giving up on one of their core businesses. I can't say I am disappointed.

Kodak never really made a successful transition from film to digital. Their competitor in the film market, Fuji I thought did this much better. Before we lament them, let us look at this objectively.

It has been eons since Kodak made any camera that anyone wanted. They have been 2nd to 3rd tier products, you know, the stuff that was sold in a blister pack at the pharmacy that I think of more as an impulse buy than a serious purchase. Where was their flagship DSLR? Where was any camera that had anything innovative?

Just like when HP left the camera market, nobody really missed them, Kodak will be the same. I see them ending up like Polaroid. Another American icon, that had their name left, and little else, that can slap it on random products, all made overseas. Too bad Kodak ended up this way, but over the last decade, this kind of was inevitable.

Jonas