Jason Maier on Nostr: I’m sure the good folks at Apple remember how Kodak came up with the digital camera ...

I’m sure the good folks at Apple remember how Kodak came up with the digital camera first and fought it because it didn’t fit their business model.

George Eastman was a pioneer in the camera industry and started Kodak in my home town of Rochester, NY.

As a kid in Rochester I learned about Kodak the same way one learns about Presidents and important history. The same is true for Danny Wegman who invented the world’s best grocery store, also in Rochester.

Even in my AP economics classes, most off the off the cuff examples were about Kodak. They employed thousands of people and had been a staple in Rochester since the late 1880s. The company’s fate was intertwined with the city’s.

The word Kodak was synonymous with taking pictures. Special moments were “Kodak Moments” and this wasn’t a flash in the pan either. Kodak adapted and flexed through the decades. Time and again they were on the front lines on technology and chose to lead.

But Kodak didn’t make their money from selling cameras. The company was profitable because they sold film so people could use their cameras. The only competition I’m aware of on this axis was Fuji.
But my memory here is skewed since using Fuji film where I lived was blasphemous.