Press Release: Kodak Ships the World's First Wi-Fi Consumer Digital Camera; Groundbreaking EASYSHARE-ONE Model Delivers an Unequaled Digital Photography Experience


Sept. 27, 2005--Device Significantly Expands Picture-Sharing Possibilities; Wirelessly E-Mail, Upload, and Share Pictures at Thousands of Public Hotspots and at Home

Signaling a new era in photography, Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) has begun shipping its innovative, highly anticipated EASYSHARE-ONE zoom digital camera to retailers. Initial customer availability is expected within the coming days, dependent on individual retailer and store stocking schedules.
Since it was announced earlier this year, the EASYSHARE-ONE model - the world's first Wi-Fi consumer camera - has won hundreds of accolades from industry organizations and consumer electronics writers for its groundbreaking design and functionality, making it one of the most talked about digital photography products in years.
"The KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE camera combines the power of sharing, taking, organizing, and printing pictures into a single, highly innovative product," said Greg Westbrook, general manager, Digital Capture, Digital and Film Imaging Systems; and vice president, Eastman Kodak Company.
"Only the EASYSHARE-ONE camera has the ability to send e-mail from the camera, to connect to the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery at home and on-the-go from thousands of hotspots worldwide, to store up to 1,500 favorite pictures, and to optimize viewing and operation via its unique touch screen and graphical menus. It's the ultimate picture sharing device, redefining the digital photography experience."
E-mail, Upload, View and Share Pictures at Hotspots Worldwide
Kodak is working with the world's leading wireless hotspot companies to make sharing pictures across town, across the country, or across the globe as easy and convenient as possible. When visiting a hotspot, EASYSHARE-ONE camera users can effortlessly send pictures with personal messages via e-mail, upload pictures to the EASYSHARE Gallery, and view and share existing Gallery albums -- all without a computer.
EASYSHARE-ONE camera purchasers receive a complimentary, camera-specific trial service in conjunction with major hotspot providers*. Current preferred service providers include T-Mobile USA, with more than 6,000 T-Mobile HotSpot locations across the United States; T-Mobile International, with over 5,000 hotspot locations in Germany (in conjunction with T-Com) and more than 800 hotspot locations in the United Kingdom; and Telstra, with over 850 Telstra Wireless Hotspot(R) locations in Australia.
Kodak is also working with other providers to expand broadband hotspot coverage in Europe and Asia, enhancing the thousands of public freespots available in venues such as airports, parks, business centers, and municipalities.
Cutting Edge Retailers to Stock the EASYSHARE-ONE Camera
Major retailers are finalizing preparations to sell the EASYSHARE-ONE digital camera and companion Wi-Fi enabled EASYSHARE snapshot printers. In the coming days and weeks, people will be able to purchase Kodak's wireless system at leading stores such as Circuit City, CompUSA, and Ritz Camera (U.S.), Dixons (U.K.), FNAC (France), Saturn and Media Markt (Germany) and Harvey Norman (Australia).
From Point-and-Shoot to Point-and-Share
Kodak designed the EASYSHARE-ONE model (US$599 MSRP, including the KODAK WI-FI(R) Card) specifically for sharing, moving the camera experience from "point-and-shoot" to "point-and-share." It incorporates multiple benefits that avid picture sharers could only dream of until now, including:
-- E-mail and online picture sharing without a computer, using a direct, wireless connection to the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery service. By connecting to the Gallery through a compatible home, hotspot or public network**, people can upload pictures and videos for near instantaneous electronic sharing with friends around the world.
-- On-the-spot sharing of up to 1,500 favorite pictures, synchronized with a person's PC-based picture collection, thanks to a huge, 3-inch, high resolution, rotating LCD touch screen that's protected when not in use, plus a generous 256 megabytes of internal memory+. In addition, when connected wirelessly to the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery, EASYSHARE-ONE camera owners can also view thousands more of their pictures stored online, including albums shared by their friends and family.
-- Significantly enhanced ease-of-use for picture sharing and taking, including the ability to create on-camera albums in which to store pictures, intuitive menu options with touch screen selection, automatic organization of pictures by date taken, and even richer, graphical scene modes to help get the best possible picture in a variety of outdoor and indoor environments. The dynamic user interface was developed in MACROMEDIA FLASH, a first for digital cameras.
-- Wireless picture printing featuring KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology when used with the new KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock Plus Series 3 or Photo Printer 500 (optional KODAK WI-FI card required for the printer).
-- Pictures with professional-quality color and sharpness, with the use of a renowned SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON 3X optical zoom lens (36 - 108 mm equivalent), a 4-megapixel sensor, and the exclusive KODAK Color Science image processing chip.
-- Smooth, vibrant video taking and sharing, with its built-in high frame-rate motion and sound recording, plus the ability to share those videos via the KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery.
-- Premium customer service from Kodak, providing EASYSHARE-ONE model owners with priority inquiry handling, assistance with the camera's wireless setup and operation, and other benefits made available to only these customers.
The KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery is available by visiting www.kodakgallery.com (U.S.), www.kodakgallery.co.uk (U.K.), www.kodakgallery.fr (France), www.kodakgallery.de (Germany), and www.kodakgallery.com.au (Australia).
The innovative KODAK EASYSHARE digital photography system -- consisting of cameras, viewers, software, docks, home snapshot printers, services, papers and accessories -- makes taking, organizing, sharing, and printing high quality digital pictures effortless. More information on KODAK EASYSHARE products is available at www.kodak.com/go/EasyShare.
About Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, print and view images - for memories, for information, for business, and for entertainment. With sales of $13.5 billion in 2004, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on four businesses: Digital & Film Imaging Systems - providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Health - supplying the medical and dental professions with traditional and digital imaging and information systems, IT solutions and services; Graphic Communications - providing customers with a range of solutions for prepress, traditional and digital printing, and document scanning and multi-vendor IT services; and Display & Components - supplying original equipment manufacturers with imaging sensors as well as intellectual property and materials for the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and LCD display industries. More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at www.kodak.com.
Pictures of KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE are available at: www.kodak.com/go/presscenter.
* Please contact your local wireless service provider for details regarding complimentary access and subscription plans.
** The KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE camera is compatible with most in-home and public Wi-Fi networks that support 802.11b technology not requiring authentication, with the option to enable 64- and 128-bit WEP security. 802.1x support and WPA security are planned for a future firmware release.
+ Up to 1500 images, marked as Favorites, optimized for viewing on the camera. 256 MB internal memory/185 MB available for picture storage (1 MB equals one million bytes).
Kodak, EasyShare, EasyShare-one and Perfect Touch are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company. Schneider-Kreuznach, and Variogon are trademarks of Jos. Schneider Optische Werke GmbH used under license by Eastman Kodak Company. Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Posted: Tue - September 27, 2005 at 09:13 AM          

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