Stable Film Consumption Plus Explosion in Digital Imaging Will Drive Demand

COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2002--Citing explosive growth in applications tied to digital imaging, Eastman Kodak Company Executive Vice President Martin Coyne said that continuing innovations in consumer and professional photography will lead to a future where photographs permeate society.

In an address during Photokina, the world's largest photographic and imaging show, Coyne, head of Kodak's $10-billion Photography Group, described prospects for the industry now and in the future. He pointed to the mobile photo album, a concept demonstrated by Kodak at the show, as an example of the innovation possible today. In testing now in Germany, consumers can use their mobile phones to view and share photographs uploaded to a special web site by a photographic retailer.

Today's digital and traditional photo products, distinguished by their sleek design, remarkable quality and versatile features are the "jewels" the market wants now, Coyne said. They will enable the industry to sustain itself in a difficult world economy where picture-taking continues at a constant rate of 3000 exposures a second. Digital photography is growing rapidly, especially in the U.S. and Japan, and could become a true mass-market category soon.

For such growth to be sustained, Coyne noted, Kodak will "engage professionals, stimulate advanced amateurs, and -- especially -- encourage upscale amateurs toward 'going digital.'" Still, the urgent task for the next two years will be to make the printing of digital images as easy for consumers as the current film-based photographic system.

To that end, Coyne said that Kodak's "EasyShare" software is fast becoming the de facto industry benchmark. With one touch simplicity, EasyShare allows consumers to print their digital camera pictures at home, through a retailer, or through an on line photofinishing service such as Kodak's Ofoto service or the many co-branded retailers on line services.

Over the long term, film will become "more versatile and rewarding," Coyne said. Steady advances will improve film's performance in terms of speed, color, clarity and resolution. Digital photographs will permeate society, especially the business and commercial world. "Sharing photos," Coyne added, "will continue to drive printing of photographs." A third of the enlargement and reprints ordered now from Kodak's Ofoto and Picture Center Online services are coming not from the original photographer -- but from friends and relatives who saw the pictures online.

As raw computing power increases and wireless applications grow, photography will permeate "virtually all our social, business and commercial transactions," Coyne said. He listed a dozen examples of the ways in which "infoimaging," -- the convergence of imaging and information -- could be applied in the future. Many of these applications -- from medical monitors in the home to on-line cooking instructions displayed in the kitchen -- are feasible already, and technology will create endless others. Today, the infoimaging market is estimated at $385 billion.

Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, enhance, preserve, print and enjoy pictures -- for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in "infoimaging" -- a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and PDAs), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). Kodak harnesses its technology, market reach and a host of industry partnerships to provide innovative products and services for customers who need the information-rich content that images contain, such as Kodak Picture Center Online. The company, with sales last year of $13.2 billion, is organized into four major businesses: Photography, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Components, delivering flat-panel displays, optics and sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services.

(Kodak is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.)