Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak Defines the Future of Digital Picture Sharing at 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show
World's Picture Leader Unveils New Mobile Imaging Enhancements, Digital Cameras and Concepts for Anytime, Anywhere Picture Sharing
LAS VEGAS, January 8 -- Eastman Kodak Company today unveiled its vision for how consumers will take and interact with digital pictures, a day in the not-so-distant future when integrated, omnipresent digital imaging systems give people the ability to capture and share their life through pictures whenever or wherever they wish.
Building upon the company's renowned photography heritage and digital imaging innovations, Kodak is making picture sharing an anytime, anywhere activity by combining products and services to provide the world's only complete connection between picture taking, storing, organizing, sharing and printing, so that people can easily do more with their photos. The roster of new products, services, and concepts showcased at the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (LVCC South Halls 3&4/Booth 22600) includes mobile imaging enhancements, digital cameras, wireless kiosks, television-based Ofoto access via WINDOWS Media Center, and NUVUE organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.
"Kodak's advances in helping people stay better connected through picture sharing have been widely followed and emulated throughout the consumer electronics industry," said Bernard Masson, president, Digital & Film Imaging Systems, and senior vice president, Eastman Kodak Company. "Our knowledge of how people interact with their pictures, coupled with our considerable imaging patent portfolio and continued stream of digital innovations, is propelling us beyond simple picture sharing. We're helping people do even more with their photos through richer picture experiences, whether they're at home, at a retail location or on the road."
Mobile Imaging Innovations
The new KODAK Mobile Service (www.kmobile.com) provides camera phone users anytime, anywhere access to their complete collection of digital photos and phone-captured video. Anyone with a camera or image-enabled phone that supports Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) 2.0 can store, access and share their images using the KODAK Mobile Service directly through their handsets or an Internet Web browser for a US$2.99 monthly fee. People can even choose to have friends and family receive automatic notifications when new photos, videos or albums are added to their online accounts.
Kodak is also showcasing a new service that makes it easy for people to print and share photos at U.S. retail locations through its market-leading line of KODAK Picture Maker kiosks. Camera phone users will be able to beam their images to a KODAK Picture Maker using Bluetooth and infrared wireless transfer technologies, after which they can quickly 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. 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. These new kiosk services will be available beginning next month at participating retailers.
Digital Camera Innovations
Kodak is unveiling the latest additions to its EASYSHARE consumer digital photography system. The 4-megapixel KODAK EASYSHARE LS743 digital camera and the 5-megapixel EASYSHARE LS753 digital camera — whose sleek aluminum bodies are the size of a small mobile phone — offer beautiful design, outstanding image quality, exceptional ease of use, and advanced sharing features.
Both cameras incorporate the new camera favorites option — with which people can place pictures into the on-camera digital photo album for later viewing or printing — and professional-quality SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON 2.8x optical zoom lenses. In addition, both are compatible with the KODAK EASYSHARE printer dock 6000 (US$199.95 MSRP) for making real, waterproof 4x6-inch KODAK prints in as little as 90 seconds — with or without a computer — plus rapid battery charging and one-touch picture transfer to a computer.
The LS743 camera will be available worldwide beginning this April (US$349 MSRP), and the LS753 camera this June (pricing to be determined).
In related news, Kodak garnered three coveted CES honors for its EASYSHARE digital photography system. The KODAK EASYSHARE printer dock 6000 and EASYSHARE DX6490 zoom digital camera won "Innovations 2004 Design and Engineering Awards," and the printer dock 6000 was selected for the "Technology is a Girl's Best Friend (TechGirl)" product showcase. Both EASYSHARE products will receive special recognition throughout the show.
In-Home and In-Car Innovations
A television-friendly version of Ofoto is being unveiled at the show as well. Microsoft is working with Ofoto, Inc., Kodak's wholly owned subsidiary, to develop a photo-imaging application specifically designed to work with WINDOWS Media Center Edition 2004 PCs. For the first time, millions of Ofoto customers will be able to access and view their digital images, and share those images in their Ofoto accounts, anytime from their TV or PC display with the convenience of using a remote control. This relationship further expands Kodak's efforts to make sharing memories easy and ubiquitous, even from the comfort of one's living room.
In addition, Kodak is highlighting a series of product concepts in its booth. The exhibit features in-car digital camera docks and displays, home-networked wireless camera docks, and wireless digital cameras. Kodak also revealed that forthcoming premium services, based on its popular Ofoto service, would bring significantly enhanced sharing functionality to anyone with Internet access.
Kodak is also exhibiting the world's only 15-inch NUVUE organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display screen, a next-generation, Kodak-developed technology that permits viewing at nearly any angle. Mounted on a refrigerator, the NUVUE display illustrates how digital-picture sharing is moving beyond the PC screen to central gathering places such as kitchens.
"Kodak is synonymous with pictures and is at the forefront of the digital evolution as people adopt new ways of capturing, experiencing, and sharing life through pictures," Masson said. "We're highlighting the next frontier at CES — easily accessible, image-centric personal content for anytime, anywhere sharing."
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, EasyShare, Perfect Touch and NuVue are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company. Schneider-Kreuznach and Variogon are trademarks of Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH used under licenses by Eastman Kodak Company.
2004
More CES 2004 releases and images