Polaroid photography fades to black

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 10 February 2008 11:16

Opinion and Analysis

The Polaroid brand name has since been plastered on a range of technologies, from actual digital cameras, to television sets, DVD players, GPS satnavs, portable photo printers for camera phones and other consumer devices, but for most people the brand name will forever be synonymous with the instant photograph.

An article in the Scotsman quotes Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s President and CFO, as saying that: "We are trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years”.

The Boston Herald has quoted a local film store as saying there has already been a run on Polaroid film since the announcement, clearing the store of existing film stock completely, and quotes some Polaroid fans planning to hold Polaroid parties to celebrate the technology and its demise.

Polaroid’s technology has now been firmly superseded by digital cameras, portable photo printers and the superior photographs they can produce, many in less than a minute, at a much cheaper per-photo price point.

It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Polaroid could create a digital camera with a built-in photo printer, but such a device would be far larger than the pack of playing-card sized digital cameras so popular today.

Ah, Polaroid. Great name and great technology – what a shame you seem set to only live on as a well known brand name to plaster onto cheap Chinese-made gadgets.