Kodak plans to get out of camera business

Picture it: Except for a few disposable point-and-shoots, Kodak is exiting the camera business.

Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames in a move that marks the end of an era for the beleaguered company.

Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak was known world over for iconic cameras such as the Brownie and the Instamatic. For the past few decades, however, the Rochester-based company has struggled.

It was battered by Japanese competition in the 1980s and failed to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.

The company sought bankruptcy protection from creditors last month in a case that covers $6.7 billion in debt. It has a year to devise a restructuring plan.

Exiting the digital camera business is especially poignant for Kodak. In 1975, a Kodak engineer created the world's first digital camera. It was an eight-pound, toaster-size device.

Through the 1990s, Kodak spent some $4 billion developing the photo technology inside most of today's cellphones and digital devices.

But fearing that it might cannibalize its celluloid film business, Kodak waited until 2001 to bring its own digital cameras to the consumer market.

Now, Kodak sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging as the core of its future business.