Eastman Kodak Co plans to stop selling reloadable film cameras in North America and Western Europe this year, testifying to the swift rise of digital photography's popularity.
The decision Tuesday also marks the end of the company's efforts with Advanced Photo System cameras, a much-ballyhooed format launched in 1996 to rekindle interest in consumer photography.
Citing declining demand and poor financial returns, Kodak said it will stop manufacturing reloadable APS cameras by the end of the year but will continue to make, and upgrade, APS film and one-time-use cameras.
Codeveloped by Kodak, Canon, Fuji, Minolta and Nikon, APS cameras produce pictures in a variety of sizes on the same roll of 24mm film. They feature a drop-in cartridge to eliminate loading errors and a magnetic stripe on the film for ordering extra copies.
In February 1996, the photo giants heralded the system as the biggest breakthrough in consumer photography since 35mm technology emerged in 1926. It quickly fell far short of expectations.
Worldwide sales of APS cameras have been stuck at around 2.5 million units a year, with Kodak's Advantix models accounting for about half of those, said Kodak spokesman Charles Smith.
The world's biggest photography company also will stop making 35mm reloadable cameras in North America and Western Europe by year-end. But it plans to expand manufacturing in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, where the 35mm market is still growing at a double-digit clip.
Sales of 35mm cameras in the US market, in which Kodak is a minor player, fell below 8 million last year, down more than 20 percent from 2002.
After a three-year slide in film sales, Kodak is betting its future on digital photography, printing and health imaging.
Filmless digital cameras, which record snapshots on computer chips, have begun outselling traditional film cameras for the first time in the US.
Last year, 12.5 million digital cameras were sold versus 12.1 million film cameras, the Photo Marketing Association said. The Jackson, Michigan-based group projects that 15.7 million digital cameras and 10.6 million film cameras will be sold this year.
In the conventional photography business, which still provides the bulk of its profits, Kodak is shifting its investment into the film and photofinishing sectors. It plans to launch new high-performance APS and 35mm films next month.
Kodak "will remain committed to manufacturing and marketing the world's highest quality film," said Bernard Masson, president of Kodak's digital and film imaging systems division. "We will focus our film investments on opportunities that provide faster and attractive returns, while reducing investments where we see unsatisfactory returns."
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