Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak Taps U.S. Mobile Imaging Market with Kiosk Offerings
KODAK Picture Maker Kiosks to Offer Mobile Imaging Printing in Five Seconds
LAS VEGAS, January 8 -- Eastman Kodak today announced it will extend its leadership in the consumer kiosk category by enabling KODAK Picture Maker kiosks with mobile printing capabilities. Available next month at participating retailers, camera phone users will be able to beam their images to a KODAK Picture Maker using Bluetooth or infrared technologies and quickly edit, enhance and print their images. In addition, KODAK Picture Maker kiosks will offer increased print speed to five-seconds and KODAK PERFECT TOUCH premium processing quality prints.
Kodak also has expanded its global partnership with Nokia in the U.S. to jointly develop kiosk printing services and other retail printing solutions to empower mobile users to turn their favorite pictures into prints. Together, they will engage in a number of co-marketing activities in 2004, which began with the Nokia Sugar Bowl, which took place in New Orleans on January 4.
The mobile imaging market is rapidly growing, according to projections by market research firms such as IDC, which forecasts more than a billion camera-enabled mobile phones in use over the next three years. Kodak currently holds the No. 1 market share position for photo kiosks at retail and this move is an example of Kodak's aggressive pursuit of the digital output market.
"Kodak is continually looking for new ways to help consumers capture and share their memories," said Eric Lent, director, Kiosks and Mobile Imaging, US&C, Digital & Film Imaging Systems, Eastman Kodak Company. "With the rise in camera phone sales, Kodak is now poised to offer consumers an easy way to print their camera phone pictures and, at the same time, help retailers increase their revenue streams."
As the popularity of camera phones increases, consumers are looking for more ways to put them to use, while retailers look to capitalize on the new trend. According to InfoTrends, 90 percent of pictures currently captured with a camera phone are shared by e-mail, and many of these images never make it to the "physical picture" stage because printing directly from a camera to a home printer is difficult, and most ink-jet printers do not respond to Bluetooth technology or standard memory cards. Capitalizing on Kodak's installed base of 24,000 kiosks across the country, Kodak will offer convenient solutions for consumers to print digital images at retail.
How It Works
Users can print pictures from their mobile imaging-enabled phone with ease on KODAK Picture Maker kiosks at participating retailers. Users simply take a picture with their mobile imaging-enabled phone, insert their memory card or select the wireless option and send the photo to a KODAK Picture Maker kiosk with the touch of a button.images are compressed to ensure a transfer within seconds, and consumers then follow the on-screen kiosk directions to easily edit, enhance and print their pictures.
KODAK Picture Maker kiosks now feature two thermal printers to offer five second prints in 4x6-inch and 5x7-inch formats for increased ease of use and convenience with prints five times faster than current print options. KODAK Picture Maker kiosks are equipped with KODAK PERFECT TOUCH software to reveal more vibrant colors, richer detail and fewer dark shadows in every picture.
About Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging
Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in infoimaging, a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and flat-panel displays), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). With sales of $12.8 billion in 2002, the company comprises several businesses: Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services; Commercial Printing, offering on-demand color printing and networking publishing systems; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Display & Components, which designs and manufactures state-of-the-art organic light-emitting diode displays as well as other specialty materials, and delivers optics and imaging sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Digital & Film Imaging Systems, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services.
Kodak and Kodak Perfect Touch are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.
2004
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