KODAK & XEROX PUSHING KIOSKS

[Anonymous]

Kodak and Xerox push kiosks
They hope to cash in on growing photo printing market
(feb
2008) — Decked out in Kodak yellow and silvery gray and topped with a
touch-screen monitor, the boxy photo kiosk at the CVS drugstore on Mt.
Hope Avenue looks like a kitchen stove out of The Jetsons.And it can
put customers’ digital images on just about anything, from standard
prints and greeting cards to photo books and calendars.Two of
Rochester’s major employers, Eastman Kodak Co. and Xerox Corp., are
banking on such photo kiosks to churn out big bucks for them. The two
companies are in Las Vegas this week for the Photo Marketing
Association’s 2008 international trade show, the photo imaging
industry’s annual confab. Both hope to make a big splash in a rapidly
growing field.The specialty photo printing market — including
everything from calendars to customized trading cards — is expected to
grow nearly 25 percent a year through 2010, hitting $800 million in
revenue, according to the market research firm InfoTrends.A 2007 report
on the U.S. photo industry by PMA Marketing Research found that the
photo book market was on course to triple in size from 2005, with
expectations for even more growth in 2008.

Xerox will share a
booth at the trade show with partner Fujifilm USA, a subsidiary of
Japanese photo giant Fujifilm Corp., as they pitch such products as a
Fuji photo kiosk using a Xerox Phaser or DocuColor printer.This week,
Xerox also announced its new “Picture Me Profitable Kit” — a collection
of guides, templates and reference materials for photo labs and
retailers to help them design and produce specialty photo products they
can then turn out on Xerox printers.

And FujiFilm announced
earlier this month that the Ritz Camera Centers chain, with roughly
1,000 sites nationwide, would start using Xerox Phaser 7760 color laser
printers to produce photo books, calendars and greeting cards through
the in-store kiosks or the Ritz Web site.

Kodak, meanwhile, is
unveiling a variety of products at the trade show, including its DL2100
printer for use in photo kiosks to turn consumers’ digital photos into
two-sided calendars, photo books and greeting cards immediately instead
of necessitating a return visit for pickup.The company also will
introduce its G4X kiosk, which, when paired with a DVD burner, can turn
out a DVD featuring photos and music from original artists in a few
minutes.With 90,000 locations nationwide, Kodak dominates the photo
kiosk market, said Rowan Lawson, worldwide marketing director for
Kodak’s retail systems solutions.The lineup of companies in Las Vegas
reads like a who’s who in digital imaging, including Hewlett-Packard
Co., Nikon Inc. and Sony Electronics Inc.”PMA is a great opportunity to
stand out,” Lawson said.”All of the right people, whether they’re big
customers down to small … stores, they’re all there.”

[Author]

February 25, 2008 at 2:19 PM