The descent of Kodak into Chapter 11 has been well reported and its inevitability long anticipated.  All blame it on the inexorable rise of digital imaging and Kodak’s inability to keep pace.  What has not been brought to light is the almost suicidal decisions that Kodak made back in 1993 to actually reduce its efforts in digital imaging so that it could focus on the tumultuous battle for the control of the 35mm film market where it was in a titanic struggle with Fuji. 

Before the fateful decision I had been working with Kodak on its PhotoCD technologies where the incredible technology guru Scott Brownstein and marketing champion Georgia McCabe were making huge strides in putting Kodak in the ascendancy of the digital imaging market.  But after that fateful day where the powers that be decided to invest in today’s analogue revenues rather than tomorrow’s digital future, we saw a rapid decline in enthusiasm and initiatives and pretty soon both Scott and Georgia departed along with the best and the brightest.

I guess that Kodak won that 35mm marketing war against Fuji, but I am not sure a lot of people really care now.

Julian