Kodak Invented the Digital Camera. Then It Went Bankrupt

In 1975 a Kodak engineer built the first portable digital camera. In 2012 Kodak filed for bankruptcy. This is the real story of how a company that saw the future, and even led the digital camera market, still could not escape the collapse of film. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:38 You Press the Button 1:22 The Big Idea: Cheap Camera, Endless Film 2:07 Growth by the Numbers 3:01 The Toaster-Sized Camera 5:03 The Warning Signs 7:09 Winning the Wrong Race 9:40 The Fall 13:26 The Lesson Sources • EASTMAN KODAK CO - Form 10-K - FY1996 — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... • Kodak's Bankruptcy: Manufacturing a 21st Century Rebirth - TheStreet — https://www.thestreet.com/investing/k... • The Dilemma That Brought Down Kodak — https://quartr.com/insights/edge/the-... • Polaroid Corporation — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroi... • Kodak — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak • Kodak's Problem Child - by Kenny Suleimanagich —   / kodaks-problem-child   • EASTMAN KODAK CO FORM 10-K (Annual Report) — https://www.annualreports.com/HostedD... • The Rise and Fall of Kodak — https://www.photosecrets.com/the-rise... • EASTMAN KODAK CO - Form 10-K - FY1997 — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... • Why Kodak Died and Fujifilm Thrived: A Tale of Two Film Companies — https://petapixel.com/why-kodak-died-... • The Decision Stack in Action: How Fujifilm Survived What Killed Kodak — https://www.thedecisionstack.com/the-... • Kodak vs. Fujifilm: The Survival Story Every Business Must Know — https://startuptalky.com/kodak-vs-fuj... • A Tale of Two Empires: Why Did Film Giant Kodak Fail, While Challenger Fujifilm Survived?｜DIG — https://note.com/human_macaw1926/n/nf... • Surviving Disruption, Part 2: Kodak Died. FujiFilm Thrived. Why? — https://www.douggarnett.com/vertical-... • Innovating for Survival: The Rise of Fujifilm and the Fall of Kodak — https://clintonhenry.com/blog/innovat... Picture credits (Wikimedia Commons) • Kodak Sasson BL.jpg — Bertrand Labévue, CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Kodak Sasson BL.jpg — Bertrand Labévue, CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Kodak Sasson BL.jpg — Bertrand Labévue, CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Kodak EasyShare LS743 digital camera.jpg — Donmike10 at English Wikipedia, Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Print made by Kodak.jpg — Mliu92, CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • George Eastman founder of Eastman Kodak Company.jpg — Paul Nadar, Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Kodak Tower Morrie Silver Way.JPG — Larry, CC BY-SA 3.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Narrated with an AI voice. Researched and fact-checked with AI, reviewed by the The Untold Ledger team before publishing.