Kodak files for bankruptacy

I find it hard to shed a tear for a company that left its loyal customers in the lurch when they disinvested from SA in 1986. I have never bought a Kodak branded item since.
 
Sounds a bit like they paying attention to the profit margins and not profits. Somehow it feels they reluctant to fully enter the digital market, with so much still invested in the chemical side of photography. Ah well , we will see what happens.
 
infodrop said:
I find it hard to shed a tear for a company that left its loyal customers in the lurch when they disinvested from SA in 1986. I have never bought a Kodak branded item since.
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Fully agree. We have a neighbour who had worked for them for over 20 years and was dumped.

I have never bought Kodak film since.
 
http://richardknight.homestead.com/files/eastmankodak.htm

Interesting - I didn't know that ... thanks for sharing!

In November 1986 Eastman Kodak announced that it was withdrawing from South Africa. It shut down it operations and cut off sales of film to the country. This was a much more complete withdrawal than that of many other companies which maintained licensing and franchising agreement. Although Kodak claimed South Africa’s weak economy was a major factor in its decision, I believe the facts point to the pressure from the anti-apartheid movement was determinate. Companies such as Eastman Kodak rarely leave a country. Clearly Kodak decided that its business with U.S. states and cities was more important than its business in South Africa.
 
I know my parents bought a Kodak instant camera in the eighties, but they could only use the thing for a year. After that it just lay there, because there was no film available. I believe Polaroid sued them and won, at about the same time as their withdrawal from South Africa.

Now both companies are bankrupt. Polaroid actually went bankrupt twice...
 
Forgive me for not remembering the 80's ... ;) But what was the film we used? AGFA?
 
It's sad to see a once innovative company go down, but markets demand that the most adaptable and innovative survive..
 
I guess a Kodak Moment is now that awkward moment when you draw money at the ATM and it says "Insufficient Funds".
 
Quantum Theory said:
I know my parents bought a Kodak instant camera in the eighties, but they could only use the thing for a year. After that it just lay there, because there was no film available. I believe Polaroid sued them and won, at about the same time as their withdrawal from South Africa.

Now both companies are bankrupt. Polaroid actually went bankrupt twice...
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Kodak had a refund program for anyone who had their instant cameras. I actually thought that the Kodak intant was better than the Polaroid, but Patent infringement was the name of the game.
 
Billy said:
Kodak had a refund program for anyone who had their instant cameras. I actually thought that the Kodak intant was better than the Polaroid, but Patent infringement was the name of the game.
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Yeah, my dad never took it back. Think it is still in a cupboard somewhere...
 
Quantum Theory said:
Interesting read from Mashable:

http://mashable.com/2012/01/20/kodak-digital-missteps/#41213The-Future
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Interesting

I didn't know they invented digital!

It seems they made Apples branded camera's before bringing out the DC40 in 1995 :

The Apple QuickTake (codenamed Venus, Mars, Neptune) was one of the first consumer digital camera lines.[1] It was launched in 1994 by Apple Computer and was marketed for three years before being discontinued in 1997. Three models of the product were built including the 100 and 150, both built by Kodak; and the 200, built by Fujifilm.
 
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