It’s like the Kodak case study, except Kodak reworking its entire camera range to add a raised middle finger in the centre of each print.
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It’s like doing New Coke, but *on* coke.
aug 23, 2025, 7:15 pm • 6 0 • view
I think Kodak actually worked very hard to embrace digital photography, well in advance of the curve. It was just a difficult challenge to navigate and they didn't get it right. Blockbuster also tried to do streaming well before netflix et al. Pivoting is hard. But, also, Google is being dumb.
aug 23, 2025, 6:54 pm • 21 0 • view
The issue for Kodak is that digital cannibalized their existing revenue stream, so ‘embracing digital’ meant doing a lot of capex just to run in place.
aug 23, 2025, 7:51 pm • 10 0 • view
But they had to try something. The point though is that Kodak didn't just rest on their laurels and get devoured. They spent capital to try to adapt, but it didn't work out for them because they didn't understand the new market.
aug 23, 2025, 7:56 pm • 0 0 • view
It also would have been rendered completely moot as cellphone cameras killed digital cameras.
aug 23, 2025, 7:56 pm • 6 0 • view
Kodak could have become a software/cloud company, providing an online home for photos with integrated photo editing and album creation. But they played their hand badly.
aug 23, 2025, 7:58 pm • 0 0 • view
They were a chemical company that pretended to be a consumer product company as nearly all of their revenue came from film processing. They also successfully spun off their ancillary chemicals business, Eastmen Chemical, in the 90's.
aug 23, 2025, 8:04 pm • 5 0 • view
High-end cameras are still a thing - Canon and Nikon make plenty of money selling to pros/prosumer photographers. But you have to make the camera, and Kodak hadn't been good at that for decades...
aug 23, 2025, 8:40 pm • 5 0 • view
Right, as they were a chemical company that made most of their money off of film and film processing.
aug 23, 2025, 8:45 pm • 4 0 • view
Blockbuster turned down internal proposals for doing a bunch of what Netflix did, but they were stuck on not touching their business model, and said no.
aug 23, 2025, 9:12 pm • 2 0 • view
Incorrect, Blockbuster started experimenting with streaming as early as 2000. www.forbes.com/2000/07/20/m...
aug 24, 2025, 12:44 am • 1 0 • view
Yeah, but they weren't willing to really commit. They could have bought Netflix in 2000, but passed on it.
aug 24, 2025, 1:03 am • 0 0 • view
They literally signed the deal with Enron.
aug 24, 2025, 1:13 am • 0 0 • view
If by embrace you mean help develop the technology then yes. I'm sure I read somewhere that they had many patents in that area.
aug 23, 2025, 9:07 pm • 1 0 • view
😂
aug 23, 2025, 6:23 pm • 47 0 • view
Both Kodak and Polaroid had attempted to tie development (pun intended) up by purchasing and hiding away hundreds of patents, thereby hoping that digital would stagnate in the corner. The tech industry worldwide had other plans.
aug 23, 2025, 9:44 pm • 8 0 • view
Counterpoint: Fujifilm
aug 23, 2025, 10:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Absolutely
aug 23, 2025, 10:28 pm • 0 0 • view
Spot on
aug 23, 2025, 7:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Kodak case study? *curious*
aug 23, 2025, 7:42 pm • 2 0 • view
youtube.com/shorts/InkJ8...
aug 23, 2025, 7:47 pm • 4 0 • view