so wtf y'all movin on up Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Polaroid Closing Instant Film Factories SIGN IN TO E-MAIL OR SAVE THIS PRINT By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 8, 2008 Filed at 4:58 p.m. ET BOSTON (AP) -- Polaroid Corp. is dropping the technology it pioneered long before digital photography rendered instant film obsolete to all but a few nostalgia buffs. Polaroid is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs as the brand synonymous with instant images focuses on ventures such as a portable printer for images from cell phones and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, televisions and DVD players. This year's closures will leave Polaroid with 150 employees at its Concord headquarters and a site in the nearby Boston suburb of Waltham, down from peak global employment of nearly 21,000 in 1978. The company stopped making instant cameras over the past two years. ''We're trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years,'' Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid's president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday, after the company's plans were reported in The Boston Globe. Polaroid failed to embrace the digital technology that has transformed photography, instead sticking to its belief that many photographers who didn't want to wait to get pictures developed would hold onto their old Polaroid cameras. Global sales of traditional camera film have been dropping about 25 percent to 30 percent per year, ''and I've got to believe instant film has been falling as fast if not faster,'' said Ed Lee, a digital photography analyst at the research firm InfoTrends Inc. ''At some point in time, it had to reach the point where it was going to be uneconomical to keep producing instant film,'' Lee said. Privately held Polaroid doesn't disclose financial details about its instant film business. Polaroid instant film will be available in stores through next year, the company said -- after which, Lee said, Japan's Fujifilm will be the only major maker of instant film. Polaroid got its start making polarized sunglasses in the 1930s, and introduced its first instant camera in 1948. Film packs contained the chemicals for developing images inside the camera, and photos emerged from the camera in less than a minute. Polaroid's overall revenue from instant cameras, film and other products peaked in 1991 at nearly $3 billion. The company went into bankruptcy in 2001 and was bought four years later for $426 million by Minnetonka, Minn.-based consumer products company Petters Group Worldwide. Polaroid's newly announced job cuts include 150 positions to be eliminated over the next couple months at Massachusetts operations in Norwood and Waltham, which make large-format films for technical and industrial photography. Later this year, Polaroid will close plants employing 300 workers in the Mexican state of Queretaro and in Enschede, Netherlands. Meanwhile, Polaroid is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights for its instant film, in hopes that another firm will continue making the film to supply Polaroid enthusiasts. As it seeks to gain a foothold in digital photography this year, Polaroid plans to sell an 8-ounce photo printer slightly bigger than a deck of cards that requires no ink and prints business card-sized pictures. It uses thermal printing technology from Zink Imaging Inc., founded by private investors who bought technologies from Polaroid as it was coming out of bankruptcy. Polaroid also has its brand name on foreign-made TVs, DVD players, digital photo frames, cameras and MP3 music players. Those products generated nearly $1 billion in revenue last year for Polaroid's parent firm, Beaudoin said. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Polaroid-Film.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=polaroid&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohnoone Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 rage better stock up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shitting Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayabusa Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 cliff notes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClueTwo Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 No more polaroids... Waaaa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllTheWrongWords Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ski Mask Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Meanwhile, Polaroid is seeking a partner to acquire licensing rights for its instant film, in hopes that another firm will continue making the film to supply Polaroid enthusiasts. [/url] somebody will definately pick up the slack. theres a big enough market. fuji will at the very least make instant film compatable with polaroid cameras (do they already? I know they have instant film, but its aimed at pros for proofs on medium format right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfffffffffft Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 this sucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overtime Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 if they drop the patent or whatever, dosent that mean multiple companies can pick it up and then in turn it will be cheaper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 like they said fuji is still gonna make it. im curious about the sticker pictures. i remember tesseract sent me a postcard with a pic he took on vacation. that was a dope idea, that i've wanted to try here but never went somewhere cool enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-walk Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 i dont see it being that big of a deal... polaroids are expensive and the only pictures i ever see them used for are trendy ass myspace kids profile pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spectr Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I fucking love Polaroids... seriously, I am going to stock up on a few cameras and film, so I have a big supply of it for years to come... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_R_O_N Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 well fuck the art of trading photos is about to die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercer Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Its pretty ingeniuse how they came up with the developing proccess for those pictures. I think there was a short documentary on the history channel, "70's tech" maybe. My parents used them and most of my childhood pics were shot on Polaroids. Shame to see them go. PS Polaroid digicams suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeastinfection Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 fuck, this is brutal. i don't have the money to stock up on a "lifetime supply of instant film". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 read the article. FUJI film is still making the film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qawee Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Polaroid is horrible. The only thing they had going was that 600 film now they have nothing their digital cameras suck, as well do their LCD TVs i also havent seen any place that stocks that izone film for a long time do they still make it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blahh Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 FUCK now the price is just going to up. and its already too expensive. I guess i'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a couple dozen boxes. imagine what you could ebay it for, 3 years after its no longer on the shelves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Bueller Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Glik should change the name of the thread to "MOAR naked pics of YOUR girl..". Doing so, perhaps, will influence the posting of naked girlfriends posting tits and so forth. TITS OR GTFO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TreSixO Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 what the fuck are you gonna smoke in prison to get high now... except heroin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De sign Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 No more naked pics of YOUR girl... Digi Much? like it isnt a pr0n ''revolution''. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
so wtf y'all movin on up Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 true...but you don't have the same mystique of finding a shoebox full of flicks and there's a couple shots of ol' cheeto-foot on all fours...if that's your thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drue_Down Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I'm pissed as a fart! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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