Kodak announced that it has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. And, The New York Stock Exchange didn’t waste anytime halting trading in the stock on the NYSE.
For many, this didn’t necessarily come as a big surprise. Consider for example other successful businesses that were largely built around a single model.
The music industry, for example, was shaken by music downloads just after the spectacular success of the launch of the CD. The newspaper industry was riding high on two decades of growth in classified advertising, only to see almost all of it disappear again within a decade.
Kodak’s digital businesses kept growing, but didn't really make significant profit. The old film business remained profitable, but shrank rapidly, shifting from consumers to professionals to finally diehards.
In the coming months Kodak and relevant stakeholders will debate what really was its demise. After all, Kodak had the brand strength, the distribution channels and one would think, financial resources to own the controlling global share position. Could Kodak for example have placed more effort on short term earnings, a growing trend in many markets, over longer-term vision and goals.
So what next, is it foreseeable that the digital camera may see the same demise? Will we continue to buy compact cameras when our smart and not so smart phones improve their photo snapping capabilities?
Amateur Photographer magazine in the UK recently ran a story reporting that compact camera sales have plummeted and in July 2011 plunged 13%, compared to only the month before. This is not to say that all digital camera sales have dropped. For instance, DSLR sales rose by 9% and mirror-less interchangeable lens camera sales rose by 166%.
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