THE PIONEERING CAMERA and film company Eastman Kodak Company has announced that it is to phase out the manufacture of digital cameras.
It says that the move will save it more than $100 million annually.
The news comes after Kodak applied for bankruptcy protection in January after it failed to find a buyer for its 1,100 digital imaging patents.
Kodak said in November that it could run out of cash in a year if it didn’t sell the patents.
The Rochester, New York-based company has invested huge sums in new lines of inkjet printers that are finally on the verge of turning a profit.
This week, the company released a statement saying that as part of its ongoing “strategic review process” it was to phase out its production of digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.
Though this will help the company to save more than $100 million, it is expected to have to spend around $30 million in separation costs.
It said that it will expand its brand licensing programme, which means its consumer business will include online and retail-based photo printing, as well as desktop inkjet printing.
The company will honour all related product warranties and provide technical support and service for the phased-out products.
Pradeep Jotwani, President, Consumer Businesses, and Kodak Chief Marketing Officer, commented:
For some time, Kodak’s strategy has been to improve margins in the capture device business by narrowing our participation in terms of product portfolio, geographies and retail outlets. Today’s announcement is the logical extension of that process, given our analysis of the industry trends.
The company said it “continues to have a strong position in the personal imaging market”.
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