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Kodak Announces Agreement
to Acquire
Applied Science Fiction™ Technologies
Company Plans to Link Rapid
Process Technology
to Photo Kiosks to Create Widespread Availability of
Automatic Picture Machines for Film and Digital Cameras
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
May 12, 2003
Eastman Kodak Company today announced a definitiveagreement to acquire
Applied Science Fiction’s proprietary rapid film processing
technology, Digital PIC™, and other key assets, the company’s
latest effort to make photography in all its forms easy and ubiquitous
in a digital age.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Applied Science Fiction is the creator of the award-winning Digital
ICE™ and Digital ICE3™ technologies, the leader of automatic
photo restoration applications, as well as the inventor of the cutting-edge
digital dry film processing system Digital PIC. Digital PIC rapidly
develops standard color negative film without chemical mixing or
plumbing. The process simultaneously renders a digital image file
that can be used to print photographs and write images on a CD.
Applied Science Fiction, based in Austin, Texas, has external trade
tests of this innovative technology underway in the U.S. and Europe.
“Our goal is to give consumers greater flexibility, capability
and access to their pictures taken with photographic film or digital
cameras,” said Dan Palumbo, president, consumer imaging products
and services, and senior vice president, Kodak. “It’s
a fact that virtually every picture taken can be improved for color,
brightness, and composition. We are putting all of that power, including
innovative film processing, in the hands of consumers. All of our
research tells us that’s exactly what consumers want. For
this reason, Kodak is pleased to acquire Applied Science Fiction’s
assets, especially its intellectual property portfolio including
the innovative Digital PIC technology, and combine it with Kodak’s
own world-class expertise in kiosks. As a result, Kodak’s
will be the first and only kiosks capable of taking any input, including
film, and giving the consumer exactly the prints they want, in minutes,
not hours or days.”
“Applied Science Fiction was formed in 1995 by a group of
scientists and engineers who shared a common vision about digital
imaging. Now, nearly eight years later, many of Applied Science
Fiction’s image enhancement technologies have become widely
used by OEMs and consumers throughout the world,” said Dan
Sullivan, president and CEO of Applied Science Fiction. “Combining
the Kodak brand name and Kodak’s extensive expertise in distribution,sales,
service and support with the revolutionary Digital PIC technology,
Kodak and Applied Science Fiction are in the best position to market
with this new technology.”
Kodak sees a generation of Picture Maker kiosks that function much
like automatic picture machines, available everywhere and providing
processing and printing for either film or digital camera users.
Since these machines will accept film or digital camera input, as
well as prints, consumers will be able to preview and select, edit
and print their pictures in a matter of minutes. These kiosks will
appeal both to existing photo retailers who want to give consumers
greater access to their pictures as well as to the expanding channels
for picture-taking activities such as vacation and entertainment
venues.
“Preview and select is a concept that has proven to offer
strong consumer benefits,” Palumbo said. “By linking
it to kiosks, we take the benefit to a whole new dimension in terms
of accessibility and ease of use.”
Kodak will maintain operations in Austin, Texas, but will integrate
Applied Science Fiction’s technologies and key personnel into
its Consumer Imaging business. Specific details about product plans
are currently under development and will be disclosed at a later
date.
Closing of the transaction is subject to customary reviews and approvals.
Eastman Kodak Company and infoimaging
Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, enhance, preserve,
print and enjoy pictures—for memories, for information, for
entertainment. The company is a major participant in infoimaging,
a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras and PDAs),
infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and
services & media (software, film and paper enabling people to
access, analyze and print images). Kodak harnesses its technology,
market reach and a host of industry partnerships to provide innovative
productsand services for customers who need the information-rich content
that images contain. The company, with sales last year of $12.8 billion,
is organized into four major businesses: Photography, providing consumers,
professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products
and services; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and
storage products and services to businesses and government; Components,
delivering flat-panel displays, optics and sensors to original equipment
manufacturers; and Health, supplying the healthcare industry with
traditional and digital image capture and output products and services.
About Applied Science Fiction
Applied Science Fiction develops proprietary technologies for the
imaging industry that link traditional photography with the digital
age. Applied Science Fiction licenses its branded technologies through
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that provide products for
the professional and consumer imaging markets. Additionally, Applied
Science Fiction directly distributes Adobe Photoshop compatible plug-ins
for automatic image correction and enhancement.
Applied Science Fiction’s product portfolio consists of the
Digital ICE3 film scanner suite, Digital ICE, Digital ROC™ and
Digital GEM™, the individual components of the suite, Digital
ICE for Photo Prints, Digital ROC plug-in for color restoration, Digital
SHO™ plug-in for revealing details of dark image-areas, and
Digital GEM plug-in for noise and grain reduction. Applied Science
Fiction is also the innovator in digital dry film processing, with
its environmentally friendly Digital PIC technology. Digital PIC develops
exposed film directly intoa high-resolution RGB digital format file
in minutes. Digital PIC produces a DigiPIX™ Digital Negative
on CD that contains the image files from which photographic quality
images can be easily printed and distributed electronically. More
information can be found on Applied Science Fiction’s Web site
at www.asf.com.
Editor's Note:
For additional information about Kodak, visit our web site on the
Internet at: www.kodak.com
Media Contacts:
Charles S. Smith, Kodak, 585-724-7450, charles.s.smith@kodak.com
Michael K. Conley, Applied Science Fiction, 512-651-4076, mconley@asf.com
Editor contacts only. Please see last paragraph for reader contact
information.
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