Kodak Looks to the Future of Photo Sharing
At the DLD Conference last month, I had the privilege of meeting with Victor Cho, VP and General Manager of Internet and Software Services at Kodak. We spoke about a few of the new and innovative things that Kodak is doing right now. One of the company’s current focuses is on creating connected devices such as cameras and video recorders. One of these devices, the Kodak Zi6 HD camera, was generously given to me and I love its simplicity and ability to capture great footage. Since many social sites on the Web integrate photography, Kodak is improving user experience by pulling value from these various social Internet services.
One of Kodak’s key products is the Kodak Gallery, in which users can share and manage their photos online. Additionally, these photos can be transformed into tangible products such as prints, photo books and cards. Users can upload high resolution photos and store them indefinitely, as long as you purchase something from the gallery each year.
The Kodak gallery is simplifying the way photos are shared. You can not only send your photos to friends and family online but also purchase unique gifts such as photo calendars, books, collages, mugs, and mousepads. Wouldn’t you love going to bed each night with your Mom’s smiling face on your pillows and blankets? If you are more the traditional type, you can opt to have your photos framed or printed on canvas instead. Regardless of which of the many options you choose, these are great gifts for family members and friends.
One of the more interesting points that Victor and I discussed was how it’s becoming increasingly difficult for individuals to manage photos on the Web since photos can be scattered in various places such as Flickr, Facebook and Picasa. As Kodak moves forward, they are looking to simplify photo sharing and uncover a new way to manage your photos.
To see my full interview with Victor Cho, watch the video below.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Um.. and I should use their service instead of my Flickr account because… ?
I think Jeff Jarvis best described Kodak as a company that defined itself by the atoms it was pushing to consumers (film etc.) rather than realizing its in the business of images and memories.
It should have bought Flickr instead of Yahoo to be the brand that you think of when you think of pictures on the web.
It missed out on the whole web thing and now by selling these “gifts” online what differentiates it from say, MOO, QOOP (or the rest of the companies at http://www.flickr.com/do/more/) and any other online printing service?
February 16th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Hmm. Not to knock on Kodak or anything, but they’ve really been behind on their game. I remember the day when all the film I would buy would be from Kodak. Who buys film nowadays? It’s good to see they’re doing better but to go out and create something that sounds like another Flickr is silly. They might as well go to Yahoo! and ask to buy Flickr, they’ll probably get more bang for their buck. I derno, but I hope they have more to this web thing other than just storing images.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
You should check out our Digital Picture Frames and Kodak Theatre HD Player – they both work with Flickr!
We are pretty active online too, you can check what we are up to here…
http://www.kodak.com/go/followus
- Jenny (aka Kodak Chief Blogger)