When I first heard about Kodak filing for bankruptcy, I skimmed over the headline without clicking the link to read the full story. I just assumed the company had missed out on the digital photography opportunity, and that was the end of the story.
But I found out the other day that the company actually invented digital photography, but management ordered the projects scrapped in order to continue the focus on film.
“This tells you, it’s all about management,” Casey Leaman, one of the LAUNCH accelerator coaches told us interns.
I’ve since done some digging and found out the following, which is pretty darned interesting:
Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975 and patented numerous digital technologies. Afraid that digital would cannibalize their film photography business, they never pushed those products after bringing their first digital camera to market in 1995. Those patents are estimated to be worth $2 billion today.
In 2005, Kodak created the first WiFi camera that allowed you to share photos without having to first connect to a computer. Unfortunately, people weren’t ready for that technology, yet, and the camera didn’t sell. Kodak killed the line.
As anyone who has read Theodore Levitt’s “Marketing Myopia” will tell you, Kodak failed to realize that it wasn’t in the film photography business, it was in the photography business. It didn’t adapt to the changing innovation in its industry, which it had actually invented.
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