Polaroid Corporation
The
Polaroid Corporation was founded in
1937 by
Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its
instant film cameras, which reached the market in
1948, and continue to be the company's flagship product line. The company's original dominant market was in
polarized sunglasses, an outgrowth of Land's self-guided research in
polarization after leaving
Harvard University at the age of 17 (he later returned to Harvard to continue his research).
After Polaroid defeated
Kodak in a patent battle, Kodak left the
instant camera business on January 9, 1986.
Polaroid managed to develop an instant movie system, Polavision, based on the
Dufay color process. The product was too late to market and had to compete with the upcoming video based systems. As a result most of the manufactured product was sold off as a job lot.
The company entered the
digital photography market late in the game, and as a result has neither a significant market share nor significant innovation in this area.
The company filed for federal
bankruptcy protection in
October 11,
2001, and most of the business was thereafter carried on by the
Polaroid Holding Company (PHC), managed by
Bank One. Significant criticism surrounded this takeover because the process left executives of the company with large bonuses, while stockholders, as well as current and retired employees, were left with nothing. Polaroid's bankruptcy was widely believed to be the result of the failure of its senior management to see the effect of
digital cameras on its film business, a fate that also befell its primary rival, Kodak.
Since the bankruptcy, the brand name has been licensed for use on other products. 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. Polaroid branded
LCDs and
plasma televisions and portable
DVD players have 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. [
1]
*
List of Polaroid instant cameras*
List of United States companies*
Instant camera*
Polaroid - a type of light-polarising material developed by Edwin H. Land
*
3-D Film*
Polacolor*
Company home page*
Company history*
On the Polaroid bankruptcy*
Polaroid & Corporate Bankruptcy*
The Branding of Polaroid - Paul Giambarba on Polaroid's branding, including background information on the company
*
World Wide Licenses press release (pdf)
