Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/25

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Kodak Focus on Digital
From: Afterswift@aol.com
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 15:20:32 EDT

In a message dated 9/25/03 11:24:02 AM Pacific Daylight Time, abridge@mac.com 
writes:

> Well they have already said they are cutting dividends substantially and 
> their
>  stock is under heavy fire. Bad commentary just  now on public radio too.
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I don't think the problem is technological. It is managerial. Kodak has been 
having financial problems before digital came on the scene, mostly due to 
competition from Japan, Germany, and the Pacific rim. Some call it globalism. 

The fact is that Kodak got into digital comparatively early for a large 
outfit. Kodak, like Polaroid before it, still doesn't know how to package digital. 
For example, there is no Kodak prosumer digital like the Olympus 5050 or the 
Canon G5 or the Nikon 5700. They didn't cover all the bases. They never did, 
even with their film cameras. With digital, they must. They can't be content 
with selling film for them because it's not involved. 

Kodak seems to be culture bound. They don't change quickly enough with the 
consumer. They have the technology. They don't know how to market it. At present 
it's the photographic elites who are buying digitals. Kodak offers a few high 
end pro digital reflexes, and a lot of cheaper consumer models, but none for 
the middle elites who are really the market now. 

Kodak marketing is full of the same holes. And they are similar for all their 
lines. 

br  
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