New 'Emotional Technology' in KODAK Picture Kiosks Creates Opportunity to Tap into Trillions of Images

ANAHEIM, Calif., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Building on the connected ecosystem solutions announcement yesterday, the Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK), world leader in photo systems and inventor of the photo kiosk category, today introduced a series of powerful new features and enhancements to its KODAK Picture Kiosk software, including a number of industry firsts. The new features are designed to inspire consumers to create something truly memorable with their most important photos easily and in minutes, through highly-profitable premium at-retail photo products.  Utilizing Kodak's proprietary materials and digital image science, these unique-to-Kodak features are compatible with KODAK Picture Kiosk G4 series – the majority of the KODAK Kiosk fleet.

Hot on the heels of the award winning KODAK SLICE Touchscreen Camera and KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera announced at CES, KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 now debuts Kodak's Video Snapshots, a first-of-its-kind video-to-still capture application at retail that allows consumers to easily select individual pictures of that "perfect moment" from video clips shot with digital still and point-and-shoot digital video cameras.  Other industry firsts include Kodak's Pet Eye Retouch, Kodak's Facial Retouch and true one-touch premium products. In addition, onboard workflow enhancements in KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 make it faster and easier than ever to create popular premium products such as photo enlargements and collages, as well as KODAK Picture CDs, and Photo Books, making this Kodak's most powerful software release for its kiosk fleet – ever.

"Our new KODAK Picture Kiosk software is the best we've introduced. It uses our Emotional Technology Initiative, designed specifically to help consumers tell their life stories quickly and easily," said Nicoletta Zongrone, General Manager Retail Systems Solutions and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. "We've had a number of market firsts since Kodak invented the photo kiosk category in 1993, and we've now created what we believe is the most satisfying customer experience to date, along with introducing proprietary features, that help our retail partners create vibrant, reliable and highly profitable photo retail destinations."

New features of KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 solve real problems for consumers and retailers:

• Solving the problem of capturing that special individual moment locked away in a video, Kodak's Video Snapshots feature lets consumers review and select individual frames from their video files, convert them into still images, and then use them to create prints, collages, greeting cards, photo books and calendars, or store them on a CD making them easier to share and relive.  Consistent with Kodak's core competency of delivering breakthrough, easy-to-use consumer experiences, the simple and elegant user interface is quick, easy and fun.  Kodak's Video Snapshots will support video formats of top brand digital still and point-and- shoot digital video cameras, including the newest HD models.  With consumers in the US alone shooting more than 4 trillion video frames annually, this presents an enormous opportunity for retailers.(1)  

• With 71 million pet households in the US alone(2), pets rank in the top four of all captured images.(3)  Kodak's Pet Eye Retouch allows these consumers to fix the very common and problematic pet eye glare caused by flash photography of their furry companions.  Consumer research shows that 65 percent of consumers were likely to use this feature, and remarkably, 28 percent would be willing to change where they print to get it. (3)

• Helping people look their best, Kodak's market-proven Facial Retouch Feature, at the touch of one button smoothes wrinkles, diminishes and/or erases blemishes and improves skin tone for more perfect photo keepsakes.  This technology was successfully tested and launched with major European retailers and is now available to all Kodak retail partners around the globe.

• The new Software v4.0 also gives consumers using the KODAK Picture Kiosk the ability to access the photos they have stored or shared on the KODAK Gallery, Facebook® and Picasa™ Web Albums, and easily use them to create photo keepsakes in minutes right in the store. With more than 475M active consumers in 180 countries and more than three billion photos uploaded each month to these sites, the software offers retailers a huge opportunity to market their unique in-store services to these users.(4)

• Designed to help consumers become aware of the powerful new sharing solutions, and retailers to increase market basket opportunity, the new software now offers a complete suite of merchandising tools.  Fresh, lively welcome screen messaging offers ideas for new projects right from the start, and the intelligent one-touch premium upsell feature creates animated product suggestions using the consumer's own images, allowing her to purchase an additional product instantly with the touch of one button.

In addition to exciting new features, KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 takes work out for the consumer.  Consistent with Kodak's focus on delivering a superior consumer experience in store, the new software requires fewer consumer touches, writes KODAK Picture CDs up to 33 percent faster, and creates KODAK Photo Books faster and more easily than with previous generation solutions.  This translates into less queuing, improved customer satisfaction and more profit potential per minute.

"With all these amazing new features and powerful upsells, the KODAK Picture Kiosk is the hardest working employee in the store – always helping and always selling," said Zongrone. "In the end, this category is not about bits, bytes and pages, it's about putting technology to work to solve real problems and create opportunities, so that consumers and retailers get what they need. We call it 'Emotional Technology.' We're very proud of our new software and we're working with our retailer partners around the globe to roll it out as we speak."

KODAK Picture Kiosk Software v4.0 will begin shipping in the 2nd quarter of 2010. . For more information on this and other exciting solutions come visit the world's leader in the photo kiosk industry at PMA 2010 - booth 3100, Anaheim Convention Center, California, from February 21-23 2010.  

About Kodak

As the world's foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.

To learn more, visit http://www.kodak.com and follow our blogs and more at http://www.kodak.com/go/followus.

More than 75 million people worldwide manage, share and create photo gifts online at KODAK Gallery -- join for free today at www.kodakgallery.com

2010 KODAK is a trademark of Kodak.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

Picasa® Web Albums is a registered trademark of Google Inc.

(1)  Kodak Estimate of US DSC Households by DCD Business Research,  IDC:  2009 U.S. Camcorder and Video Capture Usage Survey

(2) Source: American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) 2009-2010 National Pet Owners Survey

(3) Kodak Business Research

(4) Facebook® Press Room Statistics, Facebook.com, 2/18/10

SOURCE Eastman Kodak Company