POV: date=June 2008

Eastman Kodak Company (nyse: EK) is an American multinational public company which produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment. Long known for its wide range of photographic film products, Kodak is re-focusing on two major markets: digital photography and digital printing.

Origins

Kodak's origins rest with Eastman Dry Plate Company, and the General Aristo Company, founded by inventor George Eastman and businessman Henry Strong in Rochester, and Jamestown New York. The General Aristo Company was formed in 1899 in Jamestown New York, with George Eastman as treasurer, and this company purchased the stock of American Aristotype Company. Eventually, the business in Jamestown was moved in its entirety to Rochester, and the plants in Jamestown were razed. The Eastman Dry Plate Company was responsible for the first cameras suitable for nonexpert use. The Kodak company attained its name from the first simple roll film cameras produced by Eastman Dry Plate Company, known as the "Kodak" in its product line. The cameras proved such an enormous success that the word Kodak was incorporated into the company name. George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak on September 4, 1888. The Eastman Kodak Company was founded in 1892. The company is incorporated in New Jersey but has its offices in Rochester, New York. George Eastman, Kodak's founder, coined the advertising slogan, "You press the button, we do the rest." In 1901 the Eastman Kodak Company acquired the stock of General Aristo Company.

Kodak name

The letter "K" had been a favorite of Eastman's, he is quoted as saying, "it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter". He and his mother devised the name Kodak with an anagram set. He said that there were three principal concepts he used in creating the name: it should be short, one cannot mispronounce it, and it could not resemble anything or be associated with anything but Kodak. It has also been suggested that "Kodak" originated from the suggestion of David Houston, a fellow photographic inventor who held the patents to several roll film camera concepts that he later sold to Eastman. Houston, who started receiving patents in 1881, was said to have chosen "Nodak" as a nickname of his home state, North Dakota (NoDak). This is contested by other historians, however, who cite that Kodak was trademarked prior to Eastman buying Houston's patents.

Film

Kodak remains to this day the largest supplier of photographic films in the world, for the amateur, professional, and motion picture markets Fact: date=July 2008 - despite heavily reducing its professional still film ranges. Kodak's shift in focus to digital imaging has led to it dropping all but one incarnation of what is perhaps the most famous film of all time, Kodachrome, which is now only available in ISO 64 35mm slide format. The systematic deletion of Kodachrome products from Kodak's product portfolio has caused a great deal of resentment from film users, who used Kodachrome for its unique look, and in many cases would have preferred a period of notice before the film stocks were discontinued. The company has also diversified into various other imaging-related industries (such as medical imaging films now marketed by Carestream Health).