Euology for Eastman Kodak

[Wayne Fox]

I visited with a couple of old friends in Kodak management while here at WPPI, and they said the major reason for the bankruptcy was to expedite the patent portfolio sale as well as maximize the price.  The most interesting thing I picked up from the conversation is their 2011 film sales were up 25% over 2010.  While 2010 film sales were dismal compared to the nineties, that's the second year of growth and 25% is a pretty substantial bump.  The photo paper division is still generating great sales and profits, the current challenge seems to be the top level managements push to try and compete in the consumer grade printer business.(which I got the feeling none of them agreed with .. their consumer printer is cheaper for ink, but they just don't package it with the features most are looking for anymore compared to Epson and others.)

As far as the film sales he said it's mostly young college students who grew up with digital, learn analog B&W and some color in college and see it as a something "new" to differentiate themselves.

[BJL]

As far as the film sales he said it's mostly young college students who grew up with digital, learn analog B&W and some color in college and see it as a something "new" to differentiate themselves.

Nice money while Kodak can get it, but retro-chic hipsters are not going to save a major film products business in the long run, anymore than they are going to save the original VW Beetle or the LP. Maybe using digital cameras with CCDs rather than CMOS sensors for their "old-school late 20th century look" will be the next trend?