The Return of Polaroid Instant Photos
Can Polaroid become the Wii of the photography world?
Polaroid today announced their return to the photographic world today with a launch event at Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt hotel. The new management is bringing back the instant photography cameras, using the traditional analog film, and bring it back for a whole new generation. That’s right, the famous camera that debuted in 1948 and went out of production last year, is back!
In his presentation this afternoon, a very passionate Giovanni Tomaselli – Managing Director of Summit Global Group – told us that they are looking at bringing Polaroid into homes the way Nintendo brought the Wii to beat the other high performance consoles like the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 in sales.
Could a strong leader with an even stronger vision potentially bring this once-famous device back from the dead? There are definitely a lot of fans of the instant camera in Hong Kong and around the world, and with the way the Flip has been successful at easy shooting and uploading of videos could this mindset be part of Polaroid’s phoenix-like re-emergence?
How much of the photo paper and the types of cameras that will re-emerge will be brought to light in 2010. Currently Polaroid is selling the Pogo Printer – a mobile photo printer – and the Polaroid Two – a typical 5-megapixel digital camera with a 3″ LCD viewing screen but you can edit and print out – with the classic Polaroid frame – from the camera itself (up to 20 photos on one battery charge).
Check out more photos of the event which featured appearances by model Rosemary Vanderbroucke and celebrity Hong Kong photographer Wing Shya – who is apparently a Polaroid camera fanantic, and will be used in Polaroid’s Hong Kong marketing campaign:
It seems a bit old fashioned, but its a brand like Coca-Cola and the sheer cool-factor will hopefully keep Polaroid around for a long time. Check out this TV Commercial for the SX-70 from the 1970’s:
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[...] October 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment Polaroid today announced their return to the photographic world! The new management is bringing back the instant photography cameras, using the traditional analog film, and bring it back in 2010 for a whole new generation. That’s right, the famous camera that debuted in 1948 and went out of production last year, is back! Check out the entire story here. [...]
Hey, Neonpunch, is it still possible for me to purchase a classic polaroid camera like these days? I have always wanted a polaroid cam to click photos for my scrapbook! But, the thing is I have no idea where I can get them? if it ain’t big trouble for you, could u tell me of a place tat still sells the classic Polaroid camera in Hong Kong and how much would it most probably cost in HK$’s? Thanks and ur blog is totally awesome!
Akash,
As you read in the story Polaroid will be bringing new instant camera’s to market this year – so look out on Neonpunch when they announce shipping dates and prices.
Thanks for reading!