Subscribe RSSBy Matt Hartley and Jameson Berkow
After pioneering technologies that enabled the bring into being of Hollywood, the evolution of the family photo album and the first images ever taken on the moon, it seems a cruel twist of nemesis that the lasting legacy of Eastman Kodak Co. may wind up being the picture-taking technology embedded in millions of smartphones around the elated.
On Thursday, the 131-year-old photo-image trailblazer filed for bankruptcy, bringing an end to the corporate legacy of one of the most lionized brands in the United States, another failed giant pushed to irrelevancy by the digital age.
At the heart of Kodak’s tragic demise is the digital camera, a technology invented by Kodak in the 1970s, only to be ignored by its creators and championed by its rivals.
Kodak’s ruin is not unique. The company is the latest in a long line of physical media titans that have watched as the evolution of digital technologies subsumed their trade models, shredded their profits and eventually reduced them to shadows of their former selves.
