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Kodak Invites Rivals To Jump On Infoimaging Bandwagon

by Diane Berkenfeld

Although Eastman Kodak is generally viewed as the creator of the term "Infoimaging,"—one of the photo industry's hottest buzzwords—the company wants other manufacturers, even some of Kodak's closest rivals, to jump on the Infoimaging bandwagon.
That was the word from Carl Gustin, chief marketing officer for Eastman Kodak, who spoke about Infoimaging at the January PMDA meeting in New York City. In his remarks, Gustin extended an invitation to Kodak's competitors to use the term Infoimaging as a way to change the perception of the imaging industry.
"Most people don't think of our [imaging] industry as broad, important, or ubiquitous, but it is," he said, adding that since imaging touches so many aspects of everyday life, Kodak wants to get the word out, about just how massive the industry is.
The Eastman Kodak Company has not trademarked the term Infoimaging, which Kodak defines as "a $225 billion dollar industry created by the convergence of image science and information technology. It represents the evolution of communication through pictures, both moving and still."
As imaging evolves from traditional photography to digital imaging more people are touched by the industry, Gustin noted, from the companies whose products now fall under the heading of imaging, to the person who now utilizes digital images within their workday, to parents taking snapshots of their children.
When asked how the photo/imaging retailer would benefit from Infoimaging, he replied, "As technology advances that will integrate imaging into our everyday lives seamlessly, people will use imaging more, and sales will increase." Retailers who can provide their customers with the ease of use of imaging's changes with technology, will benefit the industry, by helping it grow.

Illustrations courtesy of Eastman Kodak As technology advances, growth and market opportunities increase for everyone in the industry. As Gustin put it, "We're all going to be busy."
He noted that Infoimaging is made up of the infrastructure, devices, and services and media industries. While each are impressive on their own, they all encompass some form of imaging, under the umbrella of Infoimaging, Gustin said.
A number of the newer technologies that make up Infoimaging include: Infrastructure: Online Imaging Networks, Servers and Storage; Services and Media: Writable CDs and CD-Roms, Image-Enabled E-Commerce; and Devices: Wireless Devices, X-Ray Laser Output.
Gustin pointed out that images transform markets and drive up the value of Infoimaging. Add images to radio ($3 billion industry) transforming it into television ($30 billion industry); add images to songs ($4.3 billion industry) and it translates to music videos ($15 billion industry); add images to e-mail (16 million users) and it is transformed into the World Wide Web (407 million users); add net-surfing ($1 billion industry) and images together and the result is e-commerce ($45 billion industry).
"We live in a Net economy," said Gustin. "That economy is driven by commerce. And Net commerce is not possible without images. A lot of companies are now involved in the distribution of images. However, most of the world doesn't think of imaging beyond film and pictures. We all have to correct that perception and take credit for what we've done and what we're becoming. We're at the heart of a lot of new technology advances." Carl Gustin with members of the PMDA Board of Directors. (Pictured left to right) James Chung, dir. Financial Relations, Fuji Photo Film, U.S.A.; Kathy Schneider, group publisher, Cygnus Business Media; Carl Gustin, senior v.p. & CMO, Eastman Kodak; Jackie Augustine, v.p. & group publisher PriMedia; Joe Diliberto, g.m. & v.p. Photo Specialty, Consumer Imaging, Eastman Kodak.
Photo by Diane Berkenfeld