Technological change: The last Kodak moment? | The Economist
Bad luck played a role, too. Kodak thought that the thousands of chemicals its researchers had created for use in film might instead be turned into drugs. But its pharmaceutical operations fizzled, and were sold in the 1990s.
Fujifilm diversified more successfully. Film is a bit like skin: both contain collagen. Just as photos fade because of oxidation, cosmetics firms would like you to think that skin is preserved with anti-oxidants. In Fujifilm’s library of 200,000 chemical compounds, some 4,000 are related to anti-oxidants. So the company launched a line of cosmetics, called Astalift, which is sold in Asia and is being launched in Europe this year.
And so Kodak has filed for bankruptcy. And I feel sad about it. But it's just another big company. I think I'm attached to Kodak though because my first ever camera was a Kodak instamatic taking 1190 film (I still have it incidentally)
