Back then, in 1943, cameras were not common
But some people did have them.
Edwin Land was holidaying with his daughter.
She was only 3 years old. They were in Santa Fe, Mexico.
Edwin took a picture of his daughter and like any little girl, she wanted to see how the picture turned out.
Obviously, the picture was not ready.
The camera film would have to be sent for processing. At the least, it would take a few days.
He informed her the picture wouldn’t be ready for a few days. And she wondered, ‘why’?
That was a question that made Edwin ponder too – why can’t she see the photo immediately?
In 1937, Edwin Land had founded a company called Polaroid.
They made polarising filters.
Polarising filters are filter-lens that allow only certain kinds of light to pass through them and block the others.
It was used in photography, sunglasses, industrial applications, and even in the military.
1947
About 4 years after the holiday with his daughter, Edwin Land sat at the Optical Society of America, New York.
In front of journalists from various newspapers, he clicked a picture of himself using a camera that he had invented.
And immediately, the picture he took was printed out of the camera.
The journalists were stunned. They described it as ‘revolutionary’ (that word was used less often back then).
Instant photography had arrived.
Polaroid took a year to expand its facilities and manufacturing capabilities.
In 1948, they finally launched the product to the public – the Model 95. It was sold out within minutes.
The quality was not as good as a traditional film camera that required post-processing. But it was good enough.
It was an instant success – almost all notable people had one. Celebrities were seen flaunting it. Affluent families almost mandatorily had it. Even some renowned photographers swore by it.
Polaroid continued to develop the product.
In 1950, they launched a camera version that was not sepia but was black and white.
Over the next few years, incremental improvements ensured the Polaroid instant camera kept improving.
In the 1960s, film cameras started offering color, not only black and white.
Polaroid tried hard to perfect colors. They invented new dyes and pigments, experimented with different chemicals, and so on.
After over 15 years of struggle, they successfully introduced color in their instant pictures.
In 1975, the New York Times wrote that the instant camera’s quality was almost as good as some traditional film cameras.
The 70s was a golden era for Polaroid.
Riding high on success, Edwin Land tried to make the next big move – instant video.
After a great deal of research, they introduced the Polavision.
Unfortunately for the company, this product had many flaws. It was very expensive to start with. It required much more light exposure to capture videos.
And, to see the video, a heavy monitor box would have to be carried.
Since sales were extremely low, the product was pulled from the markets.
Edmin Land quit the company sometime later.
Decline
At about the same time, Kodak, a rival company, launched its own instant camera.
Polaroid was sure this technology was copied from them.
So they sued Kodak. 10 years later, they won the case. Kodak was asked to withdraw its product and pay a fine to Polaroid.
Polaroid’s business model depended on the films on which the picture was printed.
They sold the cameras at almost no profit. The cameras would be used to click instant pictures using the film paper that Polaroid sold.
On this film, Polaroid used to make around 65% margin – an excellent margin.
The healthy profit margin made it okay to sell cameras for little to no profit.
This incredibly high profit margin led to them concentrating most of their efforts and resources on their instant cameras and film paper.
Competition started knocking on the door.
The first was cheap film cameras. Very cheap cameras, often costing only a few dollars started showing up.
These were so cheap, that people treated them like use-and-throw cameras.
Even though these cameras were not instant, and required post-processing, they posed a threat to Polaroid.
But Polaroid decided to keep their focus on instant pictures.
The final and most real threat came in the form of digital cameras.
Around this time, digital cameras started showing up – especially from the likes of Nikon and Canon.
Digital cameras first started off as standalone cameras. Later, they became common on phones.
That practically meant the Polaroid instant camera was dead.
In 2008, they decided to shut their last film manufacturing factory.
The company as it was known, was dead.
Present
Polaroid’s story does not end there, however.
At the ceremony for its factory’s last working day, a film wholesaler had an offer.
Polaroid cameras had a very loyal customer base that would continue needing film paper for their camera.
This wholesaler complained that his customers were still demanding to buy film paper from him.
He offered to take over the company.
It was rebranded to ‘Polaroid Originals’. And operations continued under what was named the ‘Impossible Project’.
A few years later, they even introduced an entirely new instant camera – One Step 2.
Among a small number of hobbyists, instant cameras are a growing trend.
Polaroid is capitalizing on it.
But it did finally do what it refused to earlier – diversify.
Today, its line-up includes products beyond instant cameras.
Now, Polaroid also offers products like 3D printers, printers, and accessories.
Polaroid when never in the business of cameras or films. It was in the business of lenses.
Edwin Land’s incredible hunger for innovation and improvement led Polaroid to a new product category – the personal camera.
In fact, Polaroid did instant cameras so well, that it became its primary business.
They missed the digital photography revolution entirely.
Not only did they miss that opportunity, they also missed multiple chances to diversify into newer product offerings.
They had one great product and they depended on it immensely.
As with many companies, Polaroid failed to evolve.
The images above were generated using AI tools.
Quick Takes
+BSE will replace JSW Steel with Zomato in its Sensex 30 index from 23 December.
+Quick commerce company Zepto raised $350 million from domestic investors in its third fundraise in 2024. The company has raised over $1 billion this year.
+India’s forex reserves fell $17.7 billion to reach $657.89 billion in the week that ended on 15 November.
+Zinka Logistics IPO was listed at a 2.89% premium over its issue price.
+NTPC Green Energy IPO was subscribed 2.42 times. Retail subscription: 3.44 times.
+Total wireless subscribers fell 0.87% monthly to 115.37 crore in September. BSNL was the only company to gain subscribers (8.5 lakh). Jio lost 79.7 lakh, Vodafone-Idea (Vi) lost 15.5 lakh, and Airtel lost 14.3 lakh subscribers: TRAI.
+UK’s annual inflation rose to a 6-month high of 2.3% in October (vs 1.7% in September). It exceeded the central bank’s (Bank of England) target limit of 2.2% in October.
+India’s unemployment rate in urban areas fell to 6.4% in the July-Sept quarter (vs 6.6% in the same quarter the previous year). For males, the rate fell to 5.7% (vs previous 6%), and for females it fell to 8.4% (vs previous 8.6%): MoSPI.
+India's domestic air passenger traffic hit a single-day record of 5.05 lakh on 17 November.
6-Day-Course
Theme of the week: understanding m-cap
We’ve reached the end of this week’s course that started on Monday. Here’s a test you should take. Get pen and paper!
Question 1:
The total market capitalization of a company is equal to its price per share multiplied by ____________ .
-Owner shares
-Employee shares
-Total number of outstanding shares
Question 2:
Companies with higher ‘depth of market’ always have higher market cap.
-True
-False
Question 3:
Shares that are available to trade freely in the market are called as ____________ .
-Highly liquid shares
-Free float shares
-Fixed free shares
Question 4:
Having a very high number of freely tradable shares in the stock market increases the depth of that stock.
-True
-False
Question 5:
An increasing market cap of a company also increases its revenue.
-True in every case
-Not always true
-False in every case
Answers:
Q1: Total number of outstanding shares
Q2: False
Q3: Free float shares
Q4: True
Q5: Not always true
The information contained in this Groww Digest is purely for knowledge. This Groww Digest does not contain any recommendations or advice.
Team Groww Digest