polaroid polaview 3000 lcd panel in stock

with a native resolution of 1024x768 . The internal 3LCD technology is an innovative 3-chip design that sets itself apart by delivering vibrant, true-to-life images with better color brightness and a wider color gamut.

with a native resolution of 1024x768 . The internal 3LCD technology is an innovative 3-chip design that sets itself apart by delivering vibrant, true-to-life images with better color brightness and a wider color gamut.

I cant give any specific comments on it cause I ain"t got my OHp yet, but will let you know how I get on. I always make sure, for waht I buy from now, that an item has all of its original accesories. I got my polaview 3000 for £115, about $170, but got the case, manual, remote, vga cable, mouse cable and power supply.

The Electronic Imaging Systems division of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based instant phortography king Polaroid Corp has come out with a new line of liquid crystal diode display panels designed for making presentations. The company claims the panels can handle high quality, true colour images and video – they support most formats, including NTSC and PAL. The Polaview 3000, Polaview 1800 and Polaview 1500 panels are all Macintosh and Windows-compatible. They connect to both the personal computer and monitor, and sit on the overhead projector to produce exceptionally clear projected images, says the company. The panels include a wireless remote control, and weigh under 5 lbs. Prices range from UKP950 for an eight-shade black-and-white panel up to UKP5,250 for the multimedia version, with an active matrix liquid crystal colour screen and built-in speakers. They are available immediately, although the company says that they may be sold under another product name here in the UK.

Repair Manual Polaview 3000 LCD Panel September 1996 Americas Business Center Technical Services 201 Burlington Road Bedford MA 01730 TEL: 1.781.386.5309 FAX: 1.781.386.5988...

The camera is slim, just wide enough to contain the film cassette. It is small, with an oversized handle containing four “AA” alkaline batteries. Its shape is remarkably like the lower‐priced Fuji single‐8mm movie camera. The “viewer” is just what its name implies—it looks and performs like a small TV set with a 12‐inch screen. At this stage, there is no other way to show the Polaroid films.

Dr. land and his chief executive, William J. McCune, president of Polaroid (Dr. Land is chairman of the board and director of research), emphasized that Polaroid"s initial venture into the instant‐movie field is for the mass market. “We could have added more features in both camera and viewer,” Dr. Land said. “Our interest at this time is in the average user. Subsequent models will contain additional elements such as a faster lens for low light filming, power and sound.”

The first Polaroid instant movie is a silent camera. Its film, however, is magnetically sound striped. Dr. Land explained. “In the near future, perhaps a year or two, when the new system is over its teething problems, we will add sound in subsequent models. By tooling up initially for sound, we save the cost of retooling later.”

Dr. Land said the sound version of his instant movie camera would perhaps be somewhat larger, as will the sound‐film cassette. “In the camera, we will have to add a solid state, miniaturized sound recording unit, with provision for a microphone.” He emphasized this has not been settled as yet. “No design has been frozen in this sector. We shall remain pliable to the last moment. If we can, both cassette and camera will stay the same size.” Polaroid is also testing the possibility of longer film capacity, perhaps double the present film load. “With sound, this would be an advantage,” he said. Film size of the new Polaroid instantfilm process is Super‐8. It is wholly contained in the cassette. Both Dr. Land and McCune emphasized the reasons are twofold: (1) For uniform developing/fixing process and (2) for customer ease of operation. The cassette slips into its slot on top of the viewer and is instantly ready for viewing. It is necessary only to connect the viewer to the house current,” Dr. Land said.

Polaroid Corporation, manufacturer of one of the premiere brands of cameras for more than 50 years, faced a crisis in the 1990s as the rise of new technologies, in particular digital cameras, negated the company"s edge in the instant delivery of prints. After putting its account in review in 2000, Polaroid selected a new advertising agency, Leo Burnett Worldwide, to help rekindle the brand"s sagging fortunes. The focus over the next three years was on taking advantage of the successful launch of the small I-Zone and JoyCam cameras and the small adhesive-backed "sticky film" they used. The company"s target was teens, in particular 15- to 17-year-old girls.

Because the marketers were playing to an audience that normally rejected typical hard-sell appeals, they attempted to be innovative and engaging while subtly urging teens in both television spots and print ads to buy the cameras and apply the "sticky pics" to whatever surface struck their fancy. For example, one television spot featured a young woman jumping up and down on her bed, slapping Polaroid pictures on the ceiling. A print effort included an insert of pictures that could be applied as a form of commentary to an accompanying fake advertisement, and teens were encouraged to "hijack" real ads with their own sticky pics.

Over the course of three years Leo Burnett succeeded in many ways. Much of the work received industry awards, and Polaroid enjoyed sales spikes. The added revenue did not, however, stave off bankruptcy for the company, which never approached spending the $150 million the account was worth when Leo Burnett took over. Instead it was estimated that Polaroid, short on cash, spent only about $70 million a year. When the account was again put up for review in 2003, Leo Burnett opted not to participate, leaving the task of rebuilding one of the great brands in American history to others.

Polaroid Corporation grew out of the polarization research conducted by Edwin Land beginning in the 1920s. After developing a polarizing material he struggled to find a commercial application, initially finding success with the sale of sunglasses. On Christmas Day 1943, in a flash of inspiration, Land conceived of a camera and self-developing film utilizing his polarizing material. With Polaroid on the verge of financial ruin by 1946, Land placed all his hopes on the development of his instant camera. It was introduced into the market a year later with a great deal of fanfare and was an immediate hit.

During the 1950s the company grew rapidly and became a marketing success story. In the camera industry Polaroid played Pepsi to Kodak"s Coca-Cola. Much of Polaroid"s success was due to its creative approach to advertising. It was quick to take advantage of the rising popularity of television, enlisting early stars of the medium, like Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar, to demonstrate Polaroid cameras in live television commercials. According to Stuart Elliott, writing for the

The proliferation of one-hour photography developing shops and the increasing popularity of digital photography dramatically changed the landscape for Polaroid during the 1990s. To counteract declining revenues in its core instant film business, Polaroid cut costs while attempting to diversify into such areas as medical imaging (a major failure), flashlights and batteries, and graphic arts. By the end of the decade, however, Polaroid decided to once again turn to the consumer market, this time focusing on a younger demographic market with the I-Zone Instant Pocket Camera, a slim camera producing small instant pictures, and the JoyCam, a smaller, lower-priced version of the company"s standard instant camera. Both were introduced in the second half of 1999. Polaroid also looked to expand its business in Europe and the Pacific and as a result dropped its advertising agency, Goodbye, Silverstein & Partners, in favor of Leo Burnett, which had global reach as a part of the Publicis Groupe. After taking over the Polaroid account, at the time worth about $150 million, in the spring of 2000, Leo Burnett launched a marketing campaign to promote the I-Zone and JoyCam following their successful introduction.

While the I-Zone and JoyCam were aimed at the 18-to-25 demographic, the cameras" core users were girls aged 15 to 17, and it was this audience that the ensuing campaign targeted. But it was a tricky population to address, given the marketing savvy possessed by contemporary teens, who from the cradle had been bombarded by advertising. They knew when they were being marketed to and were especially resistant to corporate, hardsell approaches. Polaroid knew its advertising would have to be innovative, witty, and engaging if it were to reach the mark. The goal was to make the I-Zone and JoyCam must-have items for teenage girls. Moreover the marketers wanted to establish I-Zone and JoyCam as enduring brands in the market, rather than mere fads soon to be abandoned by fickle teens. On all levels it was a tall order for Polaroid"s marketers.

Historically Polaroid"s strength in the photography field was the instant delivery of photographs. That edge eroded with the emergence of new technologies, however. Conveniently located photo shops and counters in mass retailers offering one-hour development cut into Polaroid"s market share, as consumers proved willing to trade off instant development of a single shot for the quick delivery of prints plus the film"s negatives in order to make multiple copies of favorite shots. Even more devastating to Polaroid was the introduction of digital photography and its rapid acceptance with mainstream consumers. Not only did digital cameras offer instant gratification, but poor shots could be immediately discarded and favorite ones transferred to home computers, from where they could be printed on ink-jet printers or sent by E-mail to friends and family.

The players in the new digital photography field included old-guard rivals Canon, Olympus, Fuji, Minolta, and Kodak, although the latter, like Polaroid, was not as nimble as the other companies to embrace digital photography. In addition Polaroid had to contend with a new breed of entrants in the field, including corporate giants like Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, and Samsung. What they may have lacked in track record in photography, they made up in large advertising budgets. Their combined marketing heft promoted digital photography, superseding traditional photography at a pace that took the likes of Polaroid and Kodak by surprise. Kodak was much larger and better diversified than Polaroid and had at least been a pioneer in digital photography, holding a number of key patents. It could always change its focus to digital technology, a step the company took in the 2000s. But Polaroid faced a far more serious crisis: how to survive in a marketplace that seemed to have passed it by.

Polaroid Corporation was established to produce polarizing material, which it initially attempted to sell to automakers for nonglare car headlights and windshields, but Detroit showed no interest. At the 1939 New York World"s Fair, Polaroid wowed the public with a three-dimensional film that required special filtering glasses. This time it was Hollywood"s turn to pass on Polaroid"s innovative technology.

Both television spots and print ads in the campaign followed the same game plan. According to Shoot magazine"s Fred Cisterna, "the high-energy ads show hip young adults having fun with the new cameras and with the Sticky Film." For example, the television spot titled "Ceiling" opened with the tease of a young woman jumping up and down out of the frame. Next the audience saw that she was jumping on her bed and with each leap was sticking a small Polaroid picture on her bedroom ceiling. In another ad, "Pasties," featuring a teen boy, the audience first saw two photos moving back and forth in time to a techno track of drums and bass. The payoff, as revealed in a widening shot, was that the pictures were stuck to the chest of a young man watching himself in a mirror and moving to the music.

Polaroid attempted to build on the campaign in 2001. The JoyCam was positioned as a social lubricant to consumers in their 20s in an adverting effort themed "It Only Comes Out at Night." Unlike the typical ads selling cameras or film that showed only appealing pictures, this series featured unflattering candid shots of partying young people. Again the marketers hoped to nudge the target audience not only to buy Polaroid"s small cameras but to take more pictures, thereby generating increased revenues. In 2001 Polaroid also launched an advertising campaign to promote its core product, introducing a new tagline, "Click, Instantly," which suggested that Polaroid pictures had the ability to bring people together in such a way that they clicked, helping to transform a boring party or mend fences between feuding couples. The company"s attempt on the one hand to forge a relationship with teens and on the other to remind an older demographic audience that it still had emotional relevance could not overcome the financial hole Polaroid had slipped into, however. In October 2001 Polaroid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company had no choice but to continue to spend money to promote its products or risk becoming virtually irrelevant in the marketplace, but because of its debts Polaroid would only be able to budget a fraction of the $150 million global account Leo Burnett thought it had won in 2000.

The campaign to pitch the I-Zone and JoyCam to the teen market continued in 2002. The most innovative work during the year came in the second half when Leo Burnett developed the concept of "hijacking." The inspiration came from copywriter Eric Routenberg, who one day spotted a Polaroid photo stuck on a bumper of a parked car. He told Aaron Baar of Adweek, "That car stopped being a car, and it was an ad for an I-Zone." Out of that experience grew a somewhat subversive, interactive print campaign that the agency hoped would appeal to teens. In several teen magazines Polaroid placed an insert of 32 sticky pics, of a scuba diver, a monkey face, and a man"s hairy chest, among others. On the next page was a fake print ad, which the users could comment on by affixing some of the stickers. The goal of these ads was to reengage the core market, to reacquaint people with the I-Zone product and urge them to use their own imagination in finding ways to make a statement using sticky pics—to in essence hijack ads and other images for their own purposes. A more practical objective for Polaroid was to simply increase much-needed sales in the fourth quarter of the year.

When Polaroid Corporation introduced the first instant-developing camera in 1947, it was priced at $89.75. The sepia-toned film cost $1.75 for eight exposures.

The work Leo Burnett did for Polaroid promoting the I-Zone, the JoyCam, and sticky film was successful in a number of ways. When the campaign broke in 2000 Polaroid experienced an immediate jump in sales, and research indicated that the target market liked the products a great deal, suggesting that they would not fade away like many fads. Leo Burnett also received industry recognition for some of the work it did over the course of two years. It received a 2001 Effie Award from the New York American Marketing Association. In 2002 the agency was a finalist for a Magazine Publishers of America Kelly Award and, among other distinctions, received the Best of Show and Award of Excellence in the Chicago Windy Awards, the Art Director"s Club of New York 2002 Merit, and Gold and Silver ADDY Awards, given out by the American Advertising Federation. Leo Burnett"s hijacking work in 2003 was also an MPA Kelly finalist.

Despite the success of the marketers, Polaroid continued to struggle. In July 2002 the company was bought out of bankruptcy and taken private. Polaroid simply did not have the cash it had once budgeted for advertising. According to press accounts the company was now spending about $70 million a year, less than half of the $150 million the account was estimated to be worth in 2000. When the account was put up for review in 2003, Leo Burnett opted not to participate. Euro RSCG Worldwide then took over the task of reviving the fortunes of one of the truly great brands of the second half of the twentieth century.

Elliott, Stuart. "Polaroid Hopes the Flash of a New Campaign Wins Back Its Image of Being on the Cutting Edge." New York Times, October 6, 2003, p. C5.

By 1995 Polaroid Corporation was perceived as a brand and a company whose time had passed. Disposable and 35mm cameras were less expensive than instant ones, their film was much cheaper and could be developed in an hour, and they produced better-quality photos. Polaroid sales had been declining steadily over the years, and the brand had largely faded from view. Although the company had no new products to tout, it began attempting to rebuild its brand in the United States through marketing. Polaroid tapped the San Francisco advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to craft a campaign that would create positive buzz around the brand while reminding consumers of the unique characteristics of instant photography.

"See What Develops" ran from 1996 through 1998. The campaign leveraged an estimated annual budget of between $30 million and $35 million and included TV as well as print components. The campaign"s first series of executions specifically touted the advantages of instant photography, whereas the second installment, unveiled in 1998, focused on human behavior peculiar to the instant-photography experience. For instance, an early TV spot showed a businessman who opened his briefcase to find a surprise photo placed there by his wife as an incitement to come home for lunch, and a later TV spot gently pointed out the absurdity of consumers" insistence on shaking or blowing on Polaroid photos as though to help them develop.

The campaign was well received within the advertising industry, and it initially drove substantial sales increases in Polaroid cameras and film. Polaroid"s long-term outlook for recovering its spot atop the U.S. camera industry remained bleak, however, and 1998 saw the company post a 16 percent sales decline versus 1997.

On February 21, 1947, Edwin H. Land announced his invention of one-step photography at a meeting of the Optical Society of America. Since that time the Polaroid Corporation, Land"s company, had been synonymous with instant photography. There was an explosion of popularity in the 1970s, when instant cameras became simple to use and the shooter did not have to wait weeks for 110 or 35mm film to be developed. By the 1990s, however, instant photography was perceived as a relic of the past, and so was Polaroid.

There was a broad target audience for the "See What Develops" campaign. Polaroid wanted to reach out to current users, lapsed owners, and those who had never owned an instant camera. According to a Goodbye report, this included "men, women, parents, single adults, African Americans, Latinos and Caucasians, people in their 20s and people in their 40s." They also knew that groups such as realtors, contractors, and insurance agents used the cameras in business. Goodbye wanted to influence those users while they were away from their jobs—watching TV at home—to reinforce the need for instant pictures and Polaroid.

Increased competition from disposable and easy "point-and-shoot" 35mm cameras, along with one-hour film-processing centers, had made Polaroid"s instant photography increasingly irrelevant, and the company had lost its positioning in the market over the years. There was no perceived need to take a Polaroid picture when 35mm photography produced images that were cheaper, could be developed quickly, and had better quality.

Since 1990 the company"s retail sales had decreased approximately 3 percent a year. The public was not using Polaroids anymore. The cameras were in the backs of closets in many households. Owners used the past tense if they talked about the brand at all. According to Goodby research, people felt like ""it was state-of-the-art twenty years ago … my dad had one … we used to use it all the time for parties … it was so clunky …" And the only advertising they seemed to recall clearly for this "cultural relic" was the old James Garner and Mariette Hartley campaign from the 1970s."

In addition to the brand"s image problem, Polaroid"s chief rival, Kodak, planned to buy $108.8 million in advertising time in 1996. Polaroid"s ad budget of $33.7 million for the same period was less than a third of Kodak"s.

In 1995 Polaroid did not have a new product to release. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and its client decided that "the advertising would have to bear the responsibility for changing perceptions and attitudes about the Polaroid brand," according to one agency report. They had three objectives—to get people thinking and talking about Polaroid, to make instant photography relevant again and reestablish the uniqueness of Polaroid, and to increase sales of Polaroid cameras and film.

Goodby consumer research indicated high negatives when Polaroid was compared to 35mm cameras and when it was perceived as an ordinary camera for taking pictures for photo albums. Those questioned repeatedly mentioned the poor quality of Polaroid pictures compared to 35mm and that the film was expensive. The ad agency knew it needed to avoid direct comparisons with other cameras. Focus-group participants were given Polaroid cameras and film, and they were asked to bring the pictures they shot to the next meeting. Goodbye wanted to discover how instant cameras could become attractive again to camera buyers. As expected, most of the returned photos were of friends, pets, and family—typical photo album pictures. But the agency discovered in the focus groups that the shots that made the price of a camera and film worth it were the shots that would not be put in albums. For example, one man reported that he had taken a picture to send to his insurance agent of his car"s damage from an accident. A woman had used the camera when she was trying on sunglasses to show her husband at home how the glasses looked on her.

The research that drove the creative team was the concept that taking a Polaroid picture was only the first step. Goodbye determined that the photo should be used as "an instant solution to a problem, an instant tool to make something happen. There should always be a purpose, the picture should always set off a chain reaction … something should always happen next." From that concept the "See What Develops" campaign was born.

The agency produced a series of print ads for magazines as diverse as People, Rolling Stone, and Time. Most of the print ads it designed were very simple, consisting of a Polaroid photo, a comment, the Polaroid logo, and the tagline "See What Develops." For instance, one ad featured a photo of the front of a business with a neon sign above it saying MOM. A letter was next to the photo on WOW Productions letterhead, addressed to the Hung-Rite Sign Company. The text simply read "You moron." The picture, the letterhead, and the logo and tagline made the point succinctly. Another print ad featured four shots of a toilet with the seat up. Below each picture was handwritten the day of the week and the time. The text read, "Honey, you always do that. No, I don"t. Yes you do. No, I don"t. Wanna bet?" followed by the logo and tagline.

Goodby did not plan an extensive integration effort in the "See What Develops" campaign. There were few direct-mail and in-store promotions. There was, however, a successful seasonal camera promotion that was publicized during the holidays in late 1996 and spring 1997 to encourage buyers of the basic One Step camera to mail in a $10 rebate form. This promotion was tied in with 15- and 30-second TV spots that ran during that time. The "See What Develops" campaign themes also were used by Polaroid"s public relations department on the company website and on a promotional van tour.

The media plan included television spots on shows such as NYPD Blue, Seinfeld, Melrose Place, and ER, which were characterized by Goodbye as "hip, high "talk-value" programming." The aim was to get people talking about Polaroid, to create some "buzz." Because Polaroid had less money to spend than Kodak, the creative team decided to employ a—that is, focus placement entirely in the 6:00 to 9:30 p.m. time slots and run the commercials for a shorter number of weeks than usual to have more impact. The strategy resulted in an average of 133 gross rating points each week for 14 weeks, according to the Competitive Media Report.

Almost $3 million in additional media time was obtained by working with the major TV networks to link upcoming shows with Polaroid and "See What Develops." For instance, a typical program teaser was "See What Develops next week on Melrose Place." Mediaweek honored Polaroid for the best media plan for a campaign spending more than $25 million.

The new television spots, while complicated visually, still conveyed the simple message that sometimes a Polaroid photo was the only thing that would work. "The Architect" was a 30-second spot that featured a group of people in a meeting, heatedly discussing solutions to a crisis. The phone rang, and a man with architectural drawings on his desk indicated to his wife on the line that he was too busy to go home for lunch. She asked him to check his briefcase. The man took out a Polaroid picture and with a delighted and surprised intake of breath, involuntarily said, "Ooohh." He then said he would be home in 10 minutes. A shot of the logo and tagline ended the commercial. The image he saw was left to the viewer"s imagination. In "Dog and Cat," another 30-second spot, there were quick shots of a spilled kitchen trash can, a woman scolding a dog as a cat looked on, the dog later watching as the cat approached the trash container, the dog thinking back to the scolding, then picturing his options—a rolling pin, a cleaver, a Polaroid camera. Cut to the logo and tagline. The dog, with a picture in its mouth of the cat in the trash, then greeted the owner at the door, who said, "Oh, dear."

As the campaign matured, Polaroid and Goodby focused on documenting humorous Polaroid-influenced human behavior rather than on explicitly pointing out situations in which instant cameras might be necessary. For instance, in 1998 one documentary-style spot focused on three different adults at a party, each of whom detailed the trademark poses that he or she relied on when instant photos were taken at such events. Another spot poked fun at the unnecessary rituals, such as blowing and shaking the photo, that Polaroid users frequently engaged in as a way of "helping" the image emerge. The season"s third TV spot focused on the embarrassment that an otherwise dignified bank manager felt about a Polaroid taken of him at a party.

Campaign objectives were initially met and exceeded. Three months after the release of "See What Develops," a tracking study showed that there was a "buzz" about Polaroid. Goodbye cited tracking study data when it explained, "unaided brand awareness among ou[r] 18-49-year-old target increased from 31 to 39 percent. Unaided ad awareness rose from 11 percent to 22 percent."

The campaign also got attention from publications besides the advertising press—"something Polaroid"s advertising hasn"t gotten since the days of the well-liked Garner-Hartley campaign," one Goodbye report stated. The report cited articles in Newsweek, USA Today, Time, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine and added that one of the print ads had been talked about by Tom Snyder on the Late Late Show.

The objective of redefining the relevancy and uniqueness of Polaroid instant photography was also exceeded in the early stages of the campaign. Prelaunch Goodby and Polaroid qualitative research in 1995 and 1996 had found that focus-group members who had negative attitudes about Polaroid before the meeting would leave the session feeling enthusiastic after having viewed the campaign. Goodbye reported that the group members said that "they now wanted to buy a Polaroid camera, how they saw all these new ways of using it, how it could still do things no other camera could do." According to the ad agency, copy tests had revealed that 60 percent of Polaroid owners said that they would buy film after seeing the spots, versus 30 percent for the control group.

The qualitative research done before the campaign began was proven correct. The tracking study determined that consumer intent to purchase a Polaroid camera rose from 9 percent before the campaign to 13 percent three months later. Goodbye explained, "we had given consumers a new way of looking at "old Polaroid," and it made them reconsider buying Polaroid cameras and film."

The objective of increasing Polaroid camera and film sales was also met. Partial year A.C. Nielsen data for 1996 indicated that camera sales increased by 13 percent. Film sales, which had been declining 3 percent a year for a long time, increased 1 percent—a turnaround of 4 percent.

In addition to the Mediaweek award, Goodbye and Polaroid received a Silver EFFIE. Polaroid"s long-term prospects, however, failed to improve significantly after the campaign"s initial effects wore off. "See What Develops" continued to win accolades within the advertising industry, but Polaroid"s total sales for 1998 declined 16 percent, dropping to $1.8 billion from a 1997 total of $2.1 billion.

In 1999, although Goodbye had unveiled a new theme, "Right Now," for its Polaroid branding work, the company abruptly pulled that tag, reportedly in response to high-level executives" displeasure about the fact that the same slogan had been used on behalf of a Pepsi product a few years earlier. "See What Develops" was thus resurrected to serve as the tagline for a set of three TV spots that ran in the spring and summer of that year. In the fall of 1999 Polaroid introduced a line of products already popular in Japan and China rather than any that had been developed specifically for the United States, a move that some analysts considered a desperate tactic to spur growth by any means necessary. These products—a pocket-sized camera that produced passport-sized instant photos with adhesive backs and a disposable instant camera—were marketed in the United States as the Polaroid I-Zone line and targeted a previously untapped market of 6- to 17-year-olds. A Goodbye-helmed I-Zone launch campaign resulted in fourth-quarter sales gains of 20 percent, boosting Polaroid"s total 1999 sales by 7 percent, to $1.97 billion.

In 2000, however, Polaroid reshuffled its advertising duties to reflect its need for global rather than U.S.-specific marketing platforms, awarding the U.S. account to Chicago"s Leo Burnett, an affiliate of Polaroid"s European agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty of London and of the Japanese agency Dentsu, which had been simultaneously enlisted to take over the brand"s advertising in that country. This reorganization did little to forestall the continued decline of Polaroid"s fortunes. Yet another photographic innovation, the digital camera, was becoming increasingly popular among consumers, and its numerous advantages over previous technologies included precisely the capability to offer instant gratification that had been Polaroid"s chief marketable advantage over other camera brands. Polaroid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 12, 2000.

This section is about the company that pioneered instant film in the 20th century. For the company that currently produces Polaroid instant film and cameras, formerly known as Impossible Project, see Polaroid B.V. For other uses, see Polaroid (disambiguation).

Polaroid is an American company best known for its instant film and cameras. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of its Polaroid polarizing polymer.

When the original Polaroid Corporation was declared bankrupt in 2001,Impossible Project, which had originally started out in 2008 by producing new instant films for Polaroid cameras.

The original Polaroid Corporation was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Edwin Land and George W. Wheelwright III in 1937.Apple of its time" with a "leader in Edwin Land, a scientist who guided the company as the founding CEO for four decades".polarized sunglasses — spawned from Land’s self-guided research in light polarization. Land, having completed his freshman year at Harvard University, left to pursue this market, resulting in Polaroid"s birth. Land later returned to Harvard to continue his research.military dogs.Kodak was a customer for some of Land"s polarizing products. Recognized by most as the father of instant photography, he included all the operations of a darkroom inside the film itself. Land was pictured on the cover of

When Kodak announced instant film cameras in 1976, Polaroid announced they were suing them, accusing Kodak of having stolen its patented instant photography process.

In 1977, Land introduced the Polaroid Instant Home Movie camera named Polavision, based on the Dufaycolor process. However, the product arrived on the market when videotape-based systems were rapidly gaining popularity. Thus it failed to sell well in retail stores and has been described as the swan song for Polaroid. After four decades as chairman, Edwin Land was coerced into resigning and leaving the corporation he had founded. He died in 1991. The Polavision debacle eventually caused the company to write off $89 million,Polachrome instant slide film system.

In the 1980s, Polaroid tried to reinvent itself without Land at its helm by shifting away from a dependence on consumer photography, a market which was in steady decline. In 1984 Polaroid announced "that it would enter the United States

Polaroid was forced to make wholesale changes that included having to fire thousands of workers and close many factories. The 1980s saw the advent of new technologies that profoundly changed the world of photography — one-hour color film processing, single-use cameras from competitors, videotape camcorders, and, in the 1990s and 2000s, digital cameras.

It also made 35 mm and multi format scanners, such as Polaroid SprintScan 4000 35 mm scannerNikon and Minolta products. The entire line was discontinued when Polaroid entered bankruptcy in 2001.

The original Polaroid Corporation filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 11, 2001. The outcome was that within ten months, most of the business (including the "Polaroid" name itselfBank One"s One Equity Partners (OEP). OEP Imaging Corporation then changed its name to Polaroid Holding Company (PHC).

As part of the settlement, the original Polaroid Corporation changed its name to Primary PDC, Inc.unsecured creditorsbondholders).Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,

Polaroid’s bankruptcy is widely attributed to the failure of senior management — unable to anticipate the impact of digital cameras on its film business.success trap.

After the bankruptcy, the Polaroid brand was licensed for use on other products with the assistance of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. In September 2002, World Wide Licenses, a subsidiary of The Character Group plc, was granted the exclusive rights for three years to manufacture and sell digital cameras under the Polaroid brand for distribution internationally.LCDs and plasma televisions and portable DVD players had also appeared on the market.

On April 27, 2005, Petters Group Worldwide announced its acquisition of PHC. Petters has in the past bought up failed companies with well-known names for the value of those names. The same year, Flextronics purchased Polaroid"s manufacturing operations and the decision was made to send most of the manufacturing to China.Petters Group Worldwide, and the parent company founder, Tom Petters.

On April 2, 2009, Patriarch Partners won an auction for Polaroid Corporation"s assets including the company"s name, intellectual property, and photography collection. Patriarch"s $59.1 million bid beat bids from PHC Acquisitions, Hilco Consumer Capital Corp and Ritchie Capital.

The move by New York-based Patriarch, a private-equity firm, [to drop their claim], follows US District Judge James Rosenbaum"s ruling on Thursday in Minneapolis that putting the purchase on hold during appeal would threaten operations at Polaroid, which is spending its cash at a rate of $3 million a month.

On April 16, 2009, Polaroid won US Bankruptcy Court approval to be sold to a joint venture of Hilco Consumer Capital LP of Toronto and Gordon Brothers Brands LLC of Boston.

Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers Brands announced the closing of the purchase of Polaroid Corporation on May 7, 2009, placing Polaroid Corporation in joint holding under a parent company named PLR IP Holdings, LLC. Former Executive Vice President and General Manager – Americas, Scott W. Hardy was named as the new President of Polaroid Corporation and PLR IP Holdings, LLC. The majority of employees remained in their positions at the company"s Minnetonka, Minnesota headquarters as well as office locations in Boston, New York and Toronto.

On June 19, 2009, the new holding corporation for Polaroid, PLR IP Holdings, LLC announced an exclusive 5-year agreement with Summit Global Group to produce and distribute Polaroid-branded digital still cameras, digital video cameras, digital photo frames and PoGo-branded mobile products. Summit Global Group added several former Polaroid employees to their staff. The company expects the agreement to yield $1.3 billion in retail sales over an unspecified period beginning in 2009.

In 2017, the holding corporation for Polaroid, PLR IP Holdings, LLC, was acquired by Polish investor Wiaczesław "Slava" Smołokowski.Impossible Project—a company formed to continue production of Polaroid-compatible film after Polaroid themselves left the market—having been persuaded to invest in it by his son Oskar.

The Impossible Project (already led by Oskar Smołokowski) was rebranded as Polaroid Originals, with the last factory producing Polaroid-compatible instant film cartridges in Enschede, Netherlands being rebranded under the new name later in 2017.

In March 2019, the new polaroid.com website listed instant cameras and supplies made by Polaroid Originals alongside its other products including digital cameras, sunglasses, the Cube action camera, and television units.

March 2020, Polaroid Originals rebranded as Polaroid, with the Polaroid Now being the first instant film camera in years to have the Polaroid branding.

Polaroid B.V. and other companies, including MiNT Camera (manufacturer of the reusable MiNT flash bar), refurbish and repair classic Polaroid products, with some companies modifying the hardware itself to add additional functionality.

In 1970, Caroline Hunter and her co-worker, future husband Ken Williams, discovered the involvement of their employer, Polaroid, in the South African apartheid system as the producer of the passbook photos used to identify Black individuals in South Africa. To pressure Polaroid to divest from South Africa, Hunter and Williams created the Polaroid Revolutionary Worker Movement (PRWM).South African government for use in the "passbook" in violation of Polaroid"s policy. This ended Polaroid"s relationship with its distributor and all direct sales to South Africa.

In 1985, Polaroid had its own brand of 5+1⁄4-inch floppy disks,data recovery service.The New York Times described it as a major brand.The New York Times listed it a notch lower in an almost reverse alphabetical list,

In the 1990s, Polaroid was involved in corporate sponsorship of NASCAR. For several years, Polaroid was the principal sponsor of NASCAR"s 125 mile Featherlite Modified race at Watkins Glen and it was called the "Polaroid 125". The Polaroid name was also used in sponsorship in the NASCAR Busch Series. In 1992, Polaroid was the principal sponsor of female NASCAR driver Shawna Robinson"s #25 Oldsmobile in the Busch Series. They continued as her principal sponsor when she moved to the other car numbers in 1993 and 1994.

Polaroid formerly sponsored the Target Chip GanassiNASCAR Sprint Cup Series and entries in the IRL Indy Car Series, including the car driven by Dario Franchitti.

The Polaroid name has also been associated with the NOPI drift series. Polaroid was the principal sponsor of the Nissan 350Z driven by Nick Bollea in the 2007 season.

On February 8, 2008, Polaroid (under the control of Thomas J. Petters of Petters Group Worldwide) announced that the company has decided to gradually cease production and withdraw from analog instant film products completely in 2008.Impossible Project, at the former Polaroid production plant in Enschede, Netherlands.

Austrian photographer Florian Kaps, the owner of the largest online vendor for SX-70 films and organizer of the web-based instant photo gallery Polanoid.net, had bought the approximately 500,000 film packages that were on stock. He teamed with André Bosman, a former head of film production in the large Polaroid film factory at Enschede, designed a plan to redesign the SX-70/600 film system in collaboration with Ilford Photo, and convinced the Polaroid owners to participate. Plans for a relaunch under the Impossible label were announced in January 2009.

Then Impossible had originally announced a new camera that was going to be styled after older Polaroid models to coincide with the new film. The camera was due to come out before Christmas 2010, but the deadline passed with no new information on the camera.OneStep with new features as originally planned, though the OneStep 2 uses the same type of film as the Impossible I-1 unlike the OneStep that used SX-70 Film.

On April 28, 2012, the documentary "Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film", directed by Grant Hamilton, was released in the U.S. It covers the rise, fall, and grass-roots revival of Polaroid"s instant film technology.

In summer 2008 Polaroid released the PoGo, an instant photo printer producing 2 by 3 inches (51 mm × 76 mm) prints. It uses the Zink ("zero ink") technology which is similar to dye sublimation but has the dye crystals embedded in the photo paper itself.

In 2011, the company released the Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer producing 3 by 4 inch prints.Lady Gaga, allows people to print directly from a mobile phone or digital camera.

In January 2012, Polaroid announced a new "smart camera", entitled the Polaroid SC1630 smart camera, which is powered by Google Android. The SC1630 is a combination of a camera and a portable media player, that allows users to take photos with a built-in 16 MP HD camera, download apps from Google Play, check their email, and browse the web. The built-in camera allows 3X optical zoom. Other features on the media player include Wi-Fi, touch screen, geotagging, smart albums, and 32 GB of storage via a micro SD card.

In September 2014 Polaroid introduced a $99 action camera named the "Polaroid Cube", marketed as an alternative to cameras such as the GoPro Hero (which retails for $129), specifically for casual, light users of action camcorders.GoPro released the similar GoPro HERO4 Session.

In March 2006, the specialist design and development department in Polaroid"s Vale of Leven plant in Scotland was bought out by its management team. Known as Wideblue the company specializes in helping small technology based companies develop products and manufacturing processes.

"Primary PDC Inc. (Front page)". Primary PDC Website. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2006-11-30. Substantially all of the assets of Polaroid Corporation were sold to OEP Imaging Operating Corporation (OEPI) on July 31, 2002. As part of the agreement, OEPI changed its name to Polaroid Corporation and the "former" Polaroid Corporation changed its name to Primary PDC, Inc. [which] operates under the protection of Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and is responsible for [administration] related to the "former" Polaroid Corporation.

"Stockholders". Primary PDC Website. Archived from the original on 2008-01-18. Retrieved 2006-11-30. One Equity Partners, a division of Bank One in Chicago, purchased substantially all of the Polaroid business (including the company’s name) from the old Polaroid Corporation, which is now know [sic] as Primary PDC, Inc. [and] which continues to exist under the protection of chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"Frequently Asked Questions". Primary PDC Website. Archived from the original on 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2016-06-24. On July 31, 2002, OEP Imaging Corporation (OEP) acquired substantially all the assets of Polaroid Corporation. OEP then changed its name to Polaroid Holding Company (New Polaroid) and Polaroid Corporation changed its name to Primary PDC, Inc. (Old Polaroid). [..] Old Polaroid no longer conducts commercial business and has no employees.

Deutsch, Claudia H. (2001-03-03). "G. W. Wheelwright III, 97, Dies; Co-Founder of Polaroid". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-13.

"Polaroid and One Equity Partners Complete Asset Acquisition" Archived May 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, New Polaroid Corporation. Press release dated 2002-07-31, Retrieved 2006-12-01.

O"Neill, Jerry "The New Polaroid: After Chapter 11" Archived June 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, "From the October 2002 Issue of Imaging Business" via imaginginfo.com. Article updated 2006-02-08, retrieved 2006-12-01.

"Industries Frantic To Find Polaroid Instant Film". Manufacturing.net. 2008-02-14. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved 2015-05-09.

Larson, Erik (2008-12-19). "Polaroid in Bankruptcy Again, Cites Petters Charges (Update3)". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2015-05-09.

"Lady Gaga Named Creative Director for Polaroid Product Line". Impactpr.co.nz (Press release). ImpactPR. January 11, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-01. Retrieved 2014-02-25. PLR IP Holdings, LLC, owners of the Polaroid™ brand, today announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Lady Gaga, who will serve as creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid Imaging products.

Zhang, Michael (12 May 2017). "Polaroid Acquired by The Impossible Project"s Largest Shareholder". PetaPixel. Retrieved 2018-02-18. Polaroid’s brand and [IP] has been acquired by the largest shareholder of The Impossible Project [..] Now a single family has control of both the [Polaroid and Impossible] [..] [Owner of Polaroid..] brand and IP, PLR IP Holdings, LLC, was [sold to an] ownership group led by the Smolokowski family. [..] Wiacezlaw “Slava” Smolokowski acquired a 20% stake in The Impossible Project back [in 2012]. In 2014, [son Oskar became] CEO of The Impossible Project [..] The elder Smolokowski is now Impossible’s largest shareholder.

Morgan, Eric (29 February 2008). "The World is Watching: Polaroid and South Africa". Enterprise & Society. 7 (3): 520–549. doi:10.1093/es/khl002. SSRN 1096882. Retrieved 7 February 2021.

"Notification of Polaroid Instant Film Availability". Polaroid Corporation. 2008-02-18. Archived from the original on June 7, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-20.

"Impossible relaunches Polaroid"s instant films, ends three years of speculations". British Journal of Photography. 2010-03-22. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-23.

"What is the difference between a CZA-10011, CZA-20011 and a PoGo Printer?". PLR Ecommerce. Archived from the original on January 17, 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014. PoGo printer is the common name for the original Polaroid Instant Mobile printer which produces 2*3 instant prints. CZA-10011 and CZA-20011 are model numbers for the PoGo Printer and differ only in their packaging.

"Polaroid Announces the Sc1630 Smart Camera Powered by Android". Polaroid (Press release). Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2012.

"The Polaroid genius who re-imagined the way we take photos" (video). Instant: The Story of Polaroid, author Christopher Bonanos compares the company"s dynamic founder, Edwin Land, with Apple"s iconic inventor, Steve Jobs. BBC News Online. 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2013-01-26.

Polaroid shutting 2 Mass. facilities, laying off 150, The Boston Globe, 2008-02-08, history and future of the company after ceasing its manufacturing of instant film technology.

Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement at the African Activist Archive Project – Material associated with protests against Polaroid"s association with apartheid-era South Africa

We are reinventing Polaroid and the way we approach customers, while at the same time digital technology is enabling new ways to create and use images.

Polaroid Corporation, founded on Edwin H. Land"s belief that consumer markets should be created around inventions generated by scientific research, is a world leader in instant photography. The company manufactures and sells more than 50 types of film and more than 100 cameras and instant camera accessories. Instant photography products, since their 1948 debut, have consistently provided the bulk of Polaroid"s income. Other operations, which the company announced in early 1999 that it may jettison, include sunglasses, graphic arts, glare-reducing polarizers, and holography.

Photography giant Eastman Kodak provided the company"s first financial break when it made a $10,000 order for photographic polarizing filters, later dubbed Polafilters. These plates, which consisted of a sheet of polarizing material sealed between two glass discs, increased contrast and decreased glare in photographs taken in bright light. Land-Wheelwright accepted the order and delivered the filters to Kodak. By this time, a friend, Professor Clarence Kennedy of Smith College, had dubbed the material "Polaroid," and the name was adopted. In 1935 Land negotiated with American Optical Company to produce polarized sunglasses. Such glasses could screen out glare rather than simply darken the landscape, and Land-Wheelwright contracted to begin production of Polaroid Day Glasses, a longtime source of revenue for Polaroid.

In 1937 Land formed Polaroid Corporation to acquire the operations that he and George Wheelwright had begun. Eight original shareholders fronted $375,000 to back Land and his projects. They invested in Land and his ideas, allotting him a voting trust of stock that gave him control of the company for the next decade. Wheelwright left the company in 1940 to become a navy lieutenant and never rejoined the company. Researchers had devised a number of commercial applications for Polaroid polarizing sheets--such as desk lamps, variable-density windows, lenses, and three-dimensional photographs called Vectographs--but most of these products never became significantly profitable.

Polaroid continued to court the major automakers, attempting to induce one of them to demonstrate its headlight system at the 1939 New York World"s Fair. The carmakers all refused the project, but Chrysler agreed to run a Polaroid three-dimensional (3-D) movie at its display. Audiences dodged water that seemed to spray out of a garden hose into the crowd and gawked through Polaroid-made glasses of oppositely polarized lenses as an automobile appeared to dance itself together in the air above them. The public loved 3-D, but filmmakers were content with the magic of color and sound, and passed over the new technology.

In 1939 Day Glasses were the source of most of Polaroid"s $35,000 profit. Although sales rose to $1 million in 1941, the company"s 1940 losses had reached $100,000, and it was only World War II military contracts that saved Land and his 240 employees. By 1942 the wartime economy had tripled Polaroid"s size. A $7 million navy contract to work on the Dove heat-seeking missile project was the largest contract Polaroid had ever had, though the bomb was not used during World War II. Polaroid produced a number of other products for the Armed Forces, including a device that determined an aircraft"s elevation above the horizon, an infrared night viewing device, goggles, lenses, color filters for periscopes, and range finders.

Also during the war, the 3-D technology was employed in a machine-gunner training unit. Polaroid designed a trainer in which the student operated a life-size antiaircraft gun against the 3-D simulation of an attacking plane. Reconnaissance planes were equipped to take 3-D Vectographs, which provided relief maps of enemy territory. When viewed with polarized glasses, the 3-D pictures exposed contours of guns, planes, and buildings that camouflage obscured in conventional photographs. Vectographs were used in planning almost all Allied invasions, including that of Normandy. By the end of the war, in 1945, Polaroid"s sales had reached $16 million. But as military contracts declined, so did staff, and Polaroid was down to about 900 employees, from a wartime high of 1,250. Sales fell to just $4 million in 1946 and were less than $2 million in 1947.

By 1946 Land had realized that Polaroid Corporation was in deep trouble. Land also had come to believe that instant photography was Polaroid"s only research line with potential to save the company. Land had first considered developing instant photography technology in 1943, when, on Christmas day, his three-year-old daughter asked to see the photographs her parents had taken earlier that day. Prompted by his daughter"s query, Land conceived, in a flash, an instant, self-developing film and a camera that would process it. By 1946, however, the research on the film was far from complete. Nonetheless, Land announced early that year that the instant camera system would be demonstrated at the February 21, 1947 winter meeting of the Optical Society of America. Working around the clock, Polaroid scientists developed a working model of the system, which allowed Land to take an instant picture of himself at the Optical Society meeting. The photograph developed itself within a minute. The image of Land peeling back the negative paper from an instantly produced picture of himself made front page news in theNew York Times, was given a full page inLife magazine, and was splashed across the international press.

It was an additional nine months before the camera was offered to the public via Jordan Marsh, Boston"s oldest department store. The original camera, which weighed five pounds when loaded, sold for $89.75; film cost $1.75 for eight sepia-toned exposures. On the first day the camera was offered, demonstrators sold all 56 of the available units, and the cameras kept selling as fast as the factory could produce them. First-year photographic sales exceeded $5 million. By 1950 more than 4,000 dealers sold Polaroid cameras, when only a year earlier Kodak had virtually monopolized the U.S. photography market.

The 1950s were a decade of rapid expansion. Sales mounted, spurred on by an aggressive television advertising campaign. Instant photography could be demonstrated graphically on television. Black-and-white film was introduced in 1950 to an enthusiastic public. Enthusiasm quickly turned to ire, however, as the black-and-white images began to fade and disappear. Unable to develop a nonfading black-and-white film, Polaroid provided sponge-tipped tubes of a liquid polymer, which the consumers hand applied to each picture to set the image. This awkward process was not eliminated until 1963.

Despite the inconvenience, demand for instant photography held. To accommodate growing sales, Polaroid built a plant in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company"s common stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1957. Polaroid formed its first international subsidiaries in 1959, in Frankfurt and Toronto. In 1960 it established Nippon Polaroid Kabushiki Kaisha in Japan and licensed a Japanese firm to produce two cameras for overseas sale.

During the 1960s Polaroid continued to offer improvements and variations on the original instant film and camera, though other products were also introduced. Polaroid"s first color film was introduced in 1963, along with a pack-loading black-and-white film. In 1965 the inexpensive Swinger was pitched to teens. Selling for less than $20, the camera took only black-and-white pictures, sustaining the market for Polaroid black-and-white film. In 1966 the ID-2 Land Identification system was introduced. It produced full-color laminated cards in two minutes, allowing the company to provide instant driver"s licenses and other photo identification cards. In 1967 Polaroid began construction on several new factories to boost production of cameras, film, color negatives, and chemicals. The company"s stock split two for one in 1968. During the late 1960s Polaroid was outpacing other top stock market performers. In 1970 sales reached $500 million.

In October 1970 two black workers at Polaroid called upon other black employees to leave their jobs until Polaroid ceased all business in South Africa. Polaroid had no subsidiaries or investments in the country, but its products were distributed through Frank & Hirsch and some items were sold directly to the government. South African commerce accounted for less than 0.1 percent of the company"s annual profits. Polaroid sent two black and two white employees to South Africa to assess the situation, and in 1971 the company decided to stop selling its products to the South African government. In addition, black workers at Frank & Hirsch would receive equal pay for equal work and be educated for promotion. Polaroid established a foundation to subsidize black education in South Africa, and made $25,000 in contributions to black cultural associations. Polaroid ended its association with Frank & Hirsch in 1977.

In 1972 the October cover ofLife magazine featured a cluster of children grasping after a photograph whizzing out of the new SX-70 wielded by inventor Land. The SX-70 was the first integrated camera and film system, and the pictures developed outside the camera by themselves. The public eagerly purchased the camera. Despite the fact that sales in the early 1970s continued to grow at a rate of 20 percent per year, the tremendous expense of research, manufacturing, and marketing for the SX-70 caused earnings to fall. Financial analysts began to question Polaroid"s stability. In 1974 Polaroid executives admitted that the company did not expect to make more than $3 a share that year. Actually, earnings were only 86 cents per share. Polaroid stock plummeted. By July 1974, just 26 months after the SX-70 was introduced, the stock had fallen from $149 to $14.

In 1975 Land turned the presidency of Polaroid over to Bill McCune, a senior vice-president who had been with the company since 1939 and had worked closely with Land on the development of the first instant camera and film. Manufacture of the SX-70 remained very costly, and numerous design features required modification. Yet Land was satisfied with the camera and wished to pursue research on Polavision, an instant motion picture system. McCune and others, however, favored improving the SX-70. Highly skeptical of Polavision, McCune wanted to base new product lines on market research, rather than following Land"s method of creating a consumer demand for Polaroid"s latest invention. Land introduced Polavision at the 1977 annual meeting, and a limited introduction followed. Although a scientific marvel, the instant films lasted only two and a half minutes and were silent. Videotaping was just hitting the market, and so Polavision was never a consumer success.

Land received his 500th patent and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1977. Polaroid"s corporate culture began to shift when McCune was voted chief executive officer in 1980. While Land"s entrepreneurial drive had created the company, a more diversified, market-oriented management was needed to continue to propel it. In 1982 Land retired fully, devoting his attention to research at the Rowland Institute for Science, which he had founded in 1965.

In 1976 Polaroid entered a costly and lengthy patent-infringement battle with Eastman Kodak Company. Kodak had been producing the negative component of Polaroid"s black-and-white film since 1944, and its color negative since 1957. With the introduction of the Polaroid SX-70, though, Kodak terminated its partnership with Polaroid, and began its own instant-photography research. In 1976 Kodak introduced the EK-4 and EK-6 instant cameras and PR-10 instant film. Polaroid filed suit within a week, charging 12 patent infringements in camera film and design.

Legal preparations dragged on for five years, until the trial began in October 1981. Ten of the 12 original counts were pressed. After 75 days of testimony and three years of deliberation, U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel ruled that seven of the ten Polaroid patents were valid and had been infringed upon. As a result, Kodak"s line of instant-photography products was terminated in 1986. When settlement talks began, Polaroid claimed about $6.1 billion in damages, lost sales, and interest. The case was not settled until 1991 and resulted in a payment by Eastman Kodak of $925 million.

In August 1988 Shamrock Holdings offered to buy Polaroid at $40 a share plus 40 percent of the award from the Kodak settlement. Polaroid"s board of directors rejected the offer, and soon after, the company sold 14 percent of its outstanding shares to an employee stock ownership program (ESOP). Shamrock charged that the ESOP was a form of management entrenchment, and sued. Delaware courts upheld Polaroid"s position, and Shamrock raised its offer to $45 a share. Polaroid"s board again rejected the offer and subsequently announced a $1.1 billion common stock buyback. Shamrock again sued Polaroid in February 1989 for management entrenchment, but Polaroid"s tactics were again upheld. The fight against Shamrock was led by Chairman McCune and I. MacAllister Booth, who had become president in 1983 and CEO in 1985. The pair pruned Polaroid staff in the early 1980s and reorganized the company into three divisions: consumer photography, industrial photography, and magnetic media.

The first success reaped from this new marketing strategy was the Spectra, introduced in 1986. The upscale Spectra came out of market research indicating that instant camera users wanted better picture quality. Again responding to this desire, Polaroid introduced Hybrid IV, an instant film of near 35-millimeter quality, during the early 1990s. Polaroid also introduced a line of conventional film and videotapes starting in 1989. Marketing strategies also continued to become more sophisticated. In 1990 a $60 million advertising campaign emphasized new uses for instant cameras. Suggested uses included recording household items for insurance purposes or keeping a visual record of properties