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Delivers Speech at International Consumer Electronics Show
Just as consumer desires drove the evolution of photography during the past
125 years, today's consumers are defining the rules that will drive the future
of digital imaging, said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK). It's a future where all digital content is
automatically identified, organized and instantly accessible anytime, anywhere.
In a keynote address today to attendees of the International Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Perez reflected on the current state of
the digital imaging industry and asserted that consumers want full ownership of
and instant access to all their images and information in order to creatively
tell their life stories. Yet, Perez noted, the imaging industry continues to
make this a difficult proposition by adding complexity through the proliferation
of stand-alone devices and rapidly changing, proprietary technology standards
that confuse consumers.
"Digital products and services should not require our customers to be
engineers or professional photographers, but rather, should inspire them to be
artists and publishers as they capture the moments of their lives, as they see
them, with intuitive ease," said Perez.
Perez stated that, since the days of company founder George Eastman, Kodak
has focused on unleashing the power of images through innovation and by making
complex technology simple to use. Yet, today's digital capture devices don't
enable consumers to take full advantage of the powerful capabilities offered by
digital technology.
"Today's digital cameras are dinosaurs, with the same basic architecture and
functionality as the box Brownie camera that Kodak introduced more than one
hundred years ago," said Perez. "It's a lens, shutter and something to capture
the focused light. All the imaging industry has done is to replace silver with
silicon. In the next era, we will design digital cameras from the ground up to
take full advantage of the creative power that digital technology provides."
"Consumers want the power to use their images to connect, create, preserve,
entertain and inform," said Perez. "To that end, Kodak is committed to
reinventing the digital imaging experience by pretty much changing everything
that defines photography today and bringing ease-of-use to the next level."
Perez cited the following three Kodak technology platforms that are driving
the company's innovation efforts:
Kodak Perfect Touch Technology, that will automatically detect and fix,
before the user knows it, common photographic flaws such as under-lit pictures,
high contrast scenes, back-lit shadows and red-eye in both still and motion
images.
Kodak's e-finder technology, where all digital content is automatically given
a unique identity, enabling users to instantly access any image or information
they wish anytime, anywhere. This intelligent content technology would take
metadata tagging to the next level by enabling organization of pictures based on
GPS location, automatic scene classification (beach, birthday party, etc.),
decade mapping, face recognition technology and more.
Kodak's e-moment technology, an intelligent system where pictures have the
ability to automatically recognize each other. So, without human instruction, a
picture will use its metadata to find another picture with related data, and
assemble into new groups based on how they relate to one another. For example,
imagine being able to access every picture ever taken of your son or daughter at
Christmas, whether it's part of your collection or those of relatives and
friends.
"Consumers own the future of digital imaging -- their pictures, their
memories, their life's data, the stories they can tell about their life," said
Perez. "But it's no longer about just pictures or voice, data or text. It's the
future where information and imaging become one, and consumers can access the
important images of their life anytime, anywhere."
Achieving this vision, said Perez, will take intellectual property and brand
strength, delivered through innovation, partnerships and consumer insights.
"Images are an integral part of our lives. We must enable people to share
faster, seamlessly and much simpler than is possible today," said Perez.
"Without true partnerships across our industry this will not happen. We will
disappoint consumers and will miss one of the greatest business opportunities of
our time. One of our top priorities at Kodak is to build strong partnerships
with other industry leaders to make this happen."
Motorola Partnership
Ed Zander, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Motorola joined Perez
during his speech to discuss the signing of a 10-year global product,
cross-licensing and marketing alliance between Kodak and Motorola. The agreement
brings together the world's most recognized brand in digital imaging with the
global leader in wireless communications in a partnership intended to fulfill
the promise of mobile imaging for the benefit of consumers worldwide. (See
related news release at: www.kodak.com)
Updated Kodak Brand Mark
Perez also unveiled the latest evolution of Kodak's brand logo. This new look
moves the Kodak name out of the traditional yellow box; giving it a more
contemporary design, a streamlined rounded look and distinctive letters. This
introduction is the latest step in the company's broad brand transformation
effort, which reflects the multi-industry, digital imaging leader Kodak has
become.
About Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak is the world's leading imaging innovator. With sales of $13.5 billion
in 2004, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy
focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their
life and work. Consumers use Kodak's system of digital and traditional image
capture products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime,
anywhere; Businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using
Kodak solutions for prepress, traditional and digital printing, and document
scanning; Creative Professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their
story through moving or still images; and leading Healthcare organizations rely
on Kodak's innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to
help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within
and across their enterprise.
More information about Kodak (NYSE:EK) is available at www.kodak.com.
Editors Note: Artwork of Kodak's new brand logo, and additional information
on the Kodak-Motorola partnership, are available at the Kodak Press Center at:
www.kodak.com/go/presscenter.
Download an ADOBE Acrobat version of Mr. Perez's CES speech: http://www.kodak.com/US/images/en/corp/ces2006
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