The company that invented the digital cameras decided to withdraw from that business due to inability to compete against other makers on price and efficiency. Eastman Kodak announced on Thursday that, as a result of its ongoing strategic review process, it plans to phase out its digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames business in the first half of 2012.

Kodak will expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees in the image capture devices categories. Following this decision, Kodak’s consumer business will include most valuable business lines, including online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing. Kodak will expand its current brand licensing program, and seek licensees in the devices categories. Following this decision, Kodak’s consumer business will include most valuable business lines, including online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing.

Retail-based photo kiosks and digital dry lab systems is a market in which Kodak is a worldwide leader. Kodak pioneered the retail-based kiosk market, and the company now has more than 100 thousand kiosks and order stations for dry lab systems around the world, with some 30 thousand of those units connected to the most popular photo-sharing sites. 

Consumer inkjet printers is where Kodak has outpaced overall market growth for several years. Kodak consumer inkjet printers provide consumers with high-quality output and the lowest total ink replacement cost, according to the company. Consumers can send documents and photos to Kodak printers from anywhere, using any web-connected device. 

“For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends,” said Pradeep Jotwani, president of consumer businesses and Kodak chief marketing officer.  

Kodak will also continue to offer traditional film capture and photographic paper business, Kodak camera accessories and batteries that are compatible with a broad range of devices from different brands, Kodak Gallery (www.kodakgallery.com) online digital photo products service, Kodak apps for Facebook as well as products for commercial companies.

Tags: Kodak, Business