Article

Kodak Alaris opens photo kiosks to developers

The company plans to use the developer program to monetize images from photo apps that lack printing capabilities.

October 15, 2013

By Gary Pageau

Contributing Writer

Kodak Alaris, the Rochester, N.Y.- based spin-off from Eastman Kodak, today unveiled the Kodak Photo Service — a move that opens up the company's worldwide installed base of more than 100,000 Kodak Picture Kiosks and printers to developers.

The program brings to fruition the initial efforts of the Kodak Developer program, which was in place and working long before Kodak Alaris emerged as a new company.

The program kicks off with 12 apps and support from a limited number of retailers, but the potential is huge. A surprisingly few out of the thousands of photo apps on iOS and Android actually have a printed output option. According to Suite48a, less than 5 percent of the top photo apps have printing capability.

As more and more photos are captured, manipulated and shared on mobile devices, Kodak Alaris executives say the key to monetizing these images is providing ubiquitous output choices and ease of use.

"With a global brand, photo expertise and more than 100,000 touchpoints at retail locations, Kodak Alaris is in the unique position to create this new marketplace for content owners and retailers," said Darren Johnson, vice president and chief growth officer, Kodak Alaris' Personalized Imaging, in a news release.

In interview with Kiosk Marketplace, Johnson said the move embraces the reality of the current photo e-commerce ecosystem, while leveraging the company's existing strengths.

Kodak Alaris does offer photo printing apps of their own, but this move provides simple print-to-store functionality within existing apps.

"The rate of change with technology of smartphones is amazing," Johnson said, acknowledging this open API is a very different approach from the customary closed-system practices of Kodak. "We are leveraging the way people are using imaging apps now, but now output to retail is part of the experience."

Johnson said he is pleased with the number of partner apps at the launch, and that Kodak Alaris is aggressively courting more, even outside the photo space.

"Which of these will be the killer app? The market decides," Johnson said. "The consumer decides, and it opens the way for apps beyond traditional photo, leveraging our global infrastructure.

According to Kodak Alaris, applications and content providers certified for the program include:

• CameraAce (TecAce)
• Chappters (iEvoke)
• Chip Photobook (Onpics)
• Comic Touch (Plasq)
• Perfect365 (ArcSoft)
• PicMix (Inovidea Magna Global)
• pixmix (Pixmix Ltd)
• PixStack Photo Editor (Recursify)
• Postify Print (Postify)
• SuperPhoto (Moonlighting)
• Watch The Birdie (Albert Frischmann Consulting); and
• WedPics (Deja Mi)

For retailers with Kodak kiosks and printers, the program offers them access to the images from these mobile apps. U.S. retailers participating in this program include Target and Bartell Drugs, while Germany's dm-drogerie markt intends to join the program in time for the holidays, according to the company.

Gary Pageau is the former publisher of PMA magazine. He is currently with InfoCircle Content Marketing Services and a regular blogger and contributor for Kiosk Marketplace.

Read more about photo kiosks.