News tagged with "polaroid"

CES 2012: Lifestyle photo brand Polaroid has been showing an Android-based camera with a 3x zoom on its stand. The company insists the device is a camera or, when pushed, says it can be thought of as a small tablet computer with a camera. This is despite its apparent similarity to a smartphone shown by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Altek late last year. The 16MP Wi-Fi compatible Polaroid camera features a 3x, 6.5-19.5mm lens and 1/2.33" CCD sensor to give a 36-108mm equivalent lens range.

World Wide Licenses (WWL) Europe confirmed today that the Polaroid x530 has been withdrawn from sale in the UK but will be re-introduced later in the year. In an official statement, WWL, which was given exclusive rights to sell Polaroid-branded products in 2002, says the x530 was sent to some Argos stores before it had been approved for shipment, but there also appears to be a 'technical issue'. The Polaroid x530 is the first compact digital camera to utilize Foveon's X3 sensor. UPDATE 05/11/05: The long-awaited x530 will ship in August 2005, according to the Polaroid's website. We won't hold our breath!

PMA 2005: Eight months after its original shipping date Polaroid has finally announced that the Foveon-sensored x530, which was previewed at PMA last year, is now available in the US. Interested parties in Canada, Japan, Germany and the UK will have to wait until the end of March. The 4.5 million-pixel Polaroid x530 is the first point and shoot camera to house the 1/1.8" X3 Direct Image sensor, which captures light on three layers; red, green and blue. Other features include JPEG and RAW capture, plus a 3x optical zoom. It is expected to retail at $299 (£299).

Polaroid has today announced that, "U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved procedures for the proposed sale of its business to an investor group led by One Equity Partners -- the private equity arm of Bank One Corporation) - or to a bidder with a higher or better offer. The court has set Friday, June 28, 2002, for a final hearing on the sale." They go on to say, "This is an important milestone in our plan to emerge from Chapter 11. We remain committed to securing a strong buyer for the company to maximize value for our creditors and to create a new beginning for Polaroid as an ongoing business." UPDATE 9/May: And the chairman / CEO resigns.

Polaroid, yes the company that we all thought had already left the market, has today announce a new digital camera. But not only that, Polaroid make the bold statement that the PDC 1320 "Delivers 35mm Image Quality at an Affordable Price". I'm thinking that just a few digital imaging experts may argue that a 1.3 megapixel digital camera would struggle to do that. Indeed I can't remember a single digital camera manufacturer who has made that statement, let alone with a 1.3 megapixel $199 unit.

Polaroid Corp. has today filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection (according to Fox News). This has been on the cards for several days, it now seems to have finally happened. Polaroid's last recorded share value was 28 cents compared to a 10 year high of $60.31 back in July 1997. According to Reuters Polaroid owes almost $1 billion in total ($600 million to bond holders, $350 million to two groups of banks).

Polaroid redefine 'low cost'. The PhotoMAX FUN! 620 can take up to 15 VGA (640 x 480) images, store them in its 1 MB internal RAM and transfer them by USB. At just $69.99 you're not going to expect much on the image quality side of things but it may be a good way to get your kids into digital photography...

Anyone who has been following Polaroid's fortunes over the last six months won't be surprised by the events of the last week or so. There's been plenty of talk of bankruptcy, sales and mergers. They've simply not moved quickly enough to embrace digital photography or digital photo finishing. "Pending the announcement, Polaroid shares were suspended near the end of trading Wednesday after falling 30 percent to $1.92 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) amid reports it was considering filing for bankruptcy."

In a press release today Polaroid Corp. announced a "major global restructuring plan" which is designed to reduce debt. Approximately 2,000 jobs out of a global workforce of 8,000 will be "phased out" over the next one and a half years. This doesn't come as too much of a surprise after the recent appointment of a new CFO and various press releases concerning its troubled business.

Polaroid has today announced two new "revolutionary" digital printing platforms. Opal is a two sheet thermal print medium with fast print speed and long lasting characteristics is aimed at home and retail users. Onyx is a single sheet thermal print medium designed to be used in mobile applications such as PDAs, mobile phones or one-off printers. Expect to see devices based on Onyx technology by the end of this year and Opal in 2002.

PMA 2001: Polaroid have launched lots of new products at the PMA in Orlando. The ones that are of interest are the PhotoMAX MP3 Digital Camera, PDC 2300Z (2.1 megapixel), PhotoMAX Digital Picture Frame (5 x 7-inch LCD screen).

CES 2001: Polaroid has announced several new digital imaging products at the CES this year: the P-500 mobile digital photo printer, the PhotoMAX Digital Picture Frame (5x7" screen) the PDC 2300Z 2.3 megapixel, 2.3x optical zoom digital camera and the PhotoMAX MP3 digital camera which can shoot VGA (640 x 480) and play MP3's.

Polaroid will be releasing new digital imaging products in the third quarter of 2000, the emphasis on 'trendy' offerings at low prices, bringing digital cameras to the masses. "Palmer discussed Polaroid offerings in the mobile arena, including the PhotoMAX modem camera that will allow the instant download of photos to the Internet via a phone line. Palmer also highlighted a digital photo printer, which will take advantage of emerging wireless technology to allow printing and transferring images on the go, and a digital printing camera, which will produce instant prints of digital images. Both are currently scheduled for release in the second half of 2000. "