this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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CassetteFuturism

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The first ever digital camera, built in 1975 by Eastman Kodak engineer Steve Sasson. It weighed 8 pounds (~3.6kg) and recorded 100x100 pixel photos to a cassette tape. (static01.nyt.com)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I remember reading about how Kodak tried to block digital cameras (even its own) so as not to compromise their own film business, only to be caught unprepared later on when the digital camera revolution came anyway and then took massive losses.

It's funny how they build the first.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Then later they almost shut down their entire consumer film production because of digital cameras. So they were right in thinking it would massively impact them, but made some very wrong choices because of it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It's a bit like discovering electric lighting and brushing it under the carpet, since your candle factory is blooming, while thinking/hoping that no one else will ever see a future for electric lights.

It must be one of the biggest faux pas in corporate history.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only they would've started first instead of pretending change wouldn't happen.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

So suppressing the next big competing technology just put their company behind after it became ubiquitous? Is there a lesson to be learned here? I don’t have time to figure it out—somebody’s gotta mine all this coal.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I read an interesting analysis: We as consumers just see pictures, but to them they were a chemical processing company. That didn't translate at all to digital pictures in any way like corporate experience, mindset, technical expertise, etc. It would have been hard to mentally make the change before it hit them in the face.