Technology and Innovation Management
CASE STUDY OF A SIGNIFCANT INNOVATION : THE POLAROID SX-70 LAND CAMERA
Introduction
Today, the possibility of taking pictures and instantly sharing them with other people is a given. But that was not always the case. In the 1970’s, photography was a discipline reserved for professionals. Cameras cost a lot, and film negatives had to be sent to photo laboratories in order to be developed and printed. Enters the Polaroid SX-70.
First introduced in 1972, the Polaroid SX-70 Land camera, first instant camera entirely designed for the average consumer, is one of the most revolutionary technology innovations of the 20th century. This camera allowed the user to easily take quality pictures, which would then be printed directly into the owner’s hands. Its entire design was made for the user’s comfort, from the physical aspect (the camera could be folded and could fit inside a pocket) to the ease of use of the product (the user just had to point at an object, focus, and press a button).
We often consider Sony’s Walkman or Apple’s Iphone as the last century’s greatest technology innovations, but the SX-70 has its place on the “World’s Greatest Innovation Products” shelf. The SX-70 made the front page of both Time and Life Magazine, and was according to Fortune Magazine, “one of the most remarkable accomplishments in industrial history. The project involved a series of scientific discoveries, inventions, and technological innovations in fields as disparate as chemistry, optics, and electronics.” (Fortune magazine, 1972). In 1974, 700 000 SX-70s were sold, and renowned artists such as Andy Warhol adopted the camera. The SX-70 was one of the first products that was entir...
... middle of paper ...
...
Smith C. (2014), Retrotech the Polaroid SX-70 (https://home.bt.com/techgadgets/techfeatures/retro-tech-the-polaroid-sx70-11363867101766)
McCracken H. (2011), Polaroid’s SX-70: The Art and Science of the Nearly Impossible (http://technologizer.com/2011/06/08/polaroid/)
Gordon M.E. (2010), Who Killed Polaroid? (http://negocios.udd.cl/files/2012/09/POLAROID-COMPLETE.pdf)
Plummer T. (1982), Unusual optics of the SX-70 Polaroid Camera, Applied Optics, Vol. 21, Issue 2, pp. 196-202 (http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ao/fulltext.cfm?uri=ao-21-2-196&id=25488)
Latest bit of magic (1972), Fortune magazine (http://books.google.fr/books?id=ulYEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA42&dq=polaroid&lr=&as_pt=MAGAZINES&rview=1&pg=PA42&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Gharud R. and Munir K. (2008), From transaction to transformation costs: The case of Polaroid’s SX-70 camera, Elsevier
Schoener, Steven E. "The Digital Revolution." Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. Last modified May 5, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20081007132355/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/digital.html.
Leica introduced a small format 35mm camera in 1925. This smaller machine revolutionized the way photographers could transport the camera, as they could photograph discretely in all situations. (Uk.leica-camera.com, n.p.) Leica are considered a premium brand camera, well built and precise ensuring the images they create are quality. Leica, who are still a camera maker, have photographic galleries in Frankfurt, Los Angles, New York, Salzburg and Tokyo, alternating exhibitions of work that the Magnum Photographers captured. But from here, the 3...
Derry, T. K., and Trevor Williams. A Short History of Technology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
A former point-and-shoot photographer can take professional quality pictures with a digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera by learning about and experimenting with its complex operations. There are many advantages to making the transition from a point-and-shoot digital camera to a digital SLR camera. These include capturing images “more quickly, more flexibly, and with more creativity” (Busch, Digital 9). Furthermore, taking photos with a digital SLR camera reduces the amount of time that otherwise would be spent editing with photo-editing software to improve the quality of the photos.
The introduction of portable cameras has made it feasible for anyone with basic knowledge of how to use a camera to now go out and record what they see. However, what one chooses to photograph is still a reflection on them as well as well as the scenes they witness.
Kodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator. George Eastman put the first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers in 1888. In so doing, he made a cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone. Since that time, the Eastman Kodak Company has led the way with an abundance of new products and processes to make photography simpler, more useful and more enjoyable. With sales of $13.3 billion in 2006, 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. (Kodak, 2007)
The industrial revolution created the societal circumstances necessary for photography to be born. The first and most obvious condition is that of technological advancement. Industry was advancing and expanding so rapidly that history appeared to be distancing itself from the present with unusual speed. Up until this time period life had not changed much from decade to decade or even from century to century. Photography’s popularity during the industrial revolution was, in large part, a result of people’s desire to slow down the perceived acceleration of history (McQuire). It has been argued that the acceleration of historical time is “leading to the possible industrialization of forgetting” and that “we will not only miss history…we will also long to go back to space and times past.” (Virilio)
out customers out of the traditional photography, helped to create a new market and value
The idea for photographing came around in 1814 when Joseph Niépce wanted an image of his son before he left for war. He succeeded in making the first camera in 1827, but the camera needed at least eight hours to produce one picture. Parisian Louis Daguerre invented the next kind of camera in 1839, who worked with Niépce for four years. His camera only needed fifteen to thirty minutes to produce a picture. Both Niécpe’s and Daguerre’s cameras made pictues on metal plates. In the same year Daguerre made his camera, an Englishman by the name of William Henry Fox Talbot made the first camera that photographed pictures on paper. The camera printed a reverse picture onto a negative and chemicals were needed to produce the photo up right. In 1861, color film came along and pictures were produced with color instead of being just black and white. James Clerk Maxwell is credited with coming up with color film, after he took the ...
People always want to keep the prefect moments in their lives. So they invented cameras that the earliest invention which can help people to do that. Nowadays cameras have become a part of people¡¯s lives. Most of families own at least one camera. Wherever there is a party, a picnic, a wedding or something else, we use a camera to save the memories. With the development of technology, there is a new kind of camera which becomes a fashion all over the word. It named digital camera which is short for DC. Digital cameras are different form the traditional cameras. The biggest differentiation between the two cameras are digital cameras do not need films whilst tradition camera need. Compare with tradition camera, digital camera has more advantages for ordinary consumer than disadvantages. But people use the tradition cameras for more than 150 years, will they easily to accept the new camera? How to motivate consumer to buy digital cameras? Can the marketers create such a need to them? For this article, I would discuss the need and motivation of consumers, and show the answer about the questions above.
The KODAK camera was introduced in 1888. It was the camera to become widely adopted by the public. It's box like design became the archetype for all cameras despite many different manufacturers. The use of roll film instead of glass plates, meant that these cameras were light and portable and could be used without the need for heavy wooden tripods to hold them steady. Before the Kodak was made available to the public, all photographers were responsible for
Kodak’s competitive advantage began in black and white film products, even though the company did produce cameras and camera equipment as well. As the years progressed, Kodak “paid progressively less attention to equipment” and concentrated more on the development of colored film and photo-finishing processes (Gavetti et al, 2005). In the 1960’s, Kodak focused on growth in incremental modifications to photo equipment products, which lead to Kodak’s dominance over 90% of the film market and 85% of the camera market in 1976. Although competitors began to emerge, Kodak was satisfied with its achievement of $10 billion in sales. For much of its history, Kodak had been very successful. Kodak began to expand into other business lines in the 1980s and 1990s, acquiring Clinical Diagnostics, Mass Memory, and Sterling Drug. While Kodak dabbled in other business ventures, the scope of technology had dramatically increased, offering new players a chance at a changing market that no longer needed photographic film. Sony and Fuji were two such competitors that took advantage of this situation, steadily gaining market share in the digital film industry. While Kodak did develop innovative products in the early 1990s...
Sanders, Ralph. (2000). Technology in a Paradigm Century. Available: http://www.cosmosclub.org/web/journals/2000/sanders.html. Last accessed 2nd Feb 2013.
In almost all areas, photography is used. From 1827-2014, it is still present and still being enhanced. From film photographs to digital photographs, camera companies today keep improving their cameras. They keep enhancing their cameras to produce better quality and resolution for photographs. Even non-professional photographers today buy and use their own camera to take their own photographs. Even cellphones today have their own built-in cameras.
Since then, the evolution of the digital camera has been extraordinary, and the industry continues to grow. Camera technology can also now be found in cellular devices expanding our horizons of taking and sharing photos.