THE END OF KODAK: “YOU PUSH THE BUTTON WE DO THE REST”

Written by Michael Thervil

THE END OF KODAK: “YOU PUSH THE BUTTON WE DO THE REST”

[Kodak] For just over 133 years Kodak has been providing people the world over with the opportunity to freeze people in time so that their memories could live on through photographs. But Kodak may not be able to hold on much longer. Recently Kodak announced that it may have to finally shut down its operations and its Investors are now caught in a frenzy. With revenue nosediving and sales nearly non-existent but to only a few, Kodak it seems that Kodak not only has a dark day ahead of it, but it also has some life and death decisions to make.

Kodak sold its first camera in 1888 and quickly became a powerhouse well into the 1970s. but it would be until the early 2000’s that a new challenger would come along and that challenger was the invention of the camera phone. While Kodak continued to bet on film stock it failed like Blockbuster Video to recognize and adapt to the digital age. In the case of Blockbuster Video, it was streaming services, in Kodak’s case it was digital cameras or DSLR’s; and just after roughly 2003 the era of film cameras also known as SLR’s officially ended as camera phone technology became not only advanced but became the new standard for consumers.

By 2012 and over $6 billion dollars in debt, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection. It should also be known that Kodak did everything to diversify in order to pull in revenue including going into pharmaceuticals – which was short lived. Now Kodak has found itself in a half a billion dollars in debt with no relief in sight. For older generations, this is far from a “Kodak Moment”, but in the age of digital photography and smart phones, it’s hard for many consumers the world over to come to terms with the fact that kodak may be no more. This is not only regrettable – but it hurts.