http://www.suntimes.com/business/786011,CST-NWS-pol10.article

Quote :

"BOSTON -- Polaroid Corp. is dropping the technology it pioneered long before digital photography rendered instant film obsolete to all but a few nostalgia buffs. Polaroid is closing factories in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands and cutting 450 jobs as the brand synonymous with instant images focuses on ventures such as a portable printer for images from cell phones and Polaroid-branded digital cameras, televisions and DVD players. This year's closures will leave Polaroid with 150 employees at its Concord headquarters and a site in the nearby Boston suburb of Waltham, down from peak global employment of nearly 21,000 in 1978. The company stopped making instant cameras over the last two years. ''We're trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years,'' Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid's president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday. Polaroid failed to embrace the digital technology that has transformed photography, instead sticking to its belief that many photographers who didn't want to wait to get pictures developed would hold onto their old Polaroid cameras."

Not remotely surprising but I guess I feel a twinge of sadness. A tiny twinge.

2/13/2008 9:47:07 AM

it's not the only film that's going the way of the buffalo

2/13/2008 9:49:14 AM

Quote :

"Shake it like a Polaroid picture."

2/13/2008 9:51:15 AM

35mm is dropping like a rock, but I suspect that it will always be available in small quantities. Hell, a guy just shot a new book completely on tintype.

2/13/2008 9:51:22 AM

i thought they pulled the plug on this like a year ago or two

[Edited on February 13, 2008 at 9:52 AM. Reason : i guess i should read the whole thread, huh]

2/13/2008 9:51:40 AM

oooooo

my grandmothers gona be PISSED!

2/13/2008 9:53:01 AM

sucks for my parents, they love their polaroid. they use it all the time cuz they can't figure out the new digital one we got them

2/13/2008 9:54:12 AM

Should I go buy some polaroid film/ camera and sell it when it becomes rare?

2/13/2008 9:57:08 AM

hell yeah, ebay in 2030 will be flooded with polaroid nostalgia

2/13/2008 10:06:10 AM

whats the shelf life of the film?

2/13/2008 10:07:52 AM

I may have to go pick up a polaroid camera for nostalgic reasons. I always wanted one black in the day. Get one and get a bulk purchase of film to have lying around for random moments

2/13/2008 10:17:10 AM

it's great for spur of the moment naughty photoshoots

it's easier to convince her it wont end up on the internet

2/13/2008 10:18:06 AM

ooo this is very true


i want one for those pics i want to keepsake for a long time b/c im more likely to hold onto one of those than to upload>crop>print

2/13/2008 10:21:12 AM

when i went to REHAB REHAB REHAB REHAB they took a polaroid of me to show me every day how shitty i looked when i got there


they should always keep them for that old institutionalized nostalgia feel

2/13/2008 10:24:28 AM

jackleg is back!

2/13/2008 10:25:34 AM

hey scrumpo i didnt really go anywhere

2/13/2008 10:30:16 AM

yea and what about when you kidnap someone and send the ransom note with a pic of them with duct tape over their mouth and a snot bubble forming. Now you got to find the usb cable and photo paper, print. Reinsert paper correct side up and print again. Such a hassle.

2/13/2008 10:59:11 AM

what are all the artsy motherfuckers gonna do and try to be "original" now?

2/13/2008 11:00:09 AM

^^

just cut off a finger and send that.

2/13/2008 4:36:21 PM

in 10 years the teenagers will not understand what "shake it like a polariod picture" means.

2/13/2008 4:50:36 PM

just like i dont know the safety dance

2/13/2008 4:51:50 PM