This was the Kodak Still Video lineup in 1987. I coordinated the NYC launch in May, designed the product displays and system layout of the nine or so booths. They got some TV news coverage, but sales of the shipping products were slow. With Desktop Publishing creating big news, there was hesitancy due to the poor quality of the SVF. The price of the Kodak units were too expensive for the "pro-sumer" and the quality was not good enough for broadcast TV. They had me go on the road a couple of times to explain the products to video professionals. The sales reps didn't understand them well enough to feel comfortable demonstrating them at that point. I was pretty frank with customers of what I thought, if asked. So, that gig didn't last long. I did however, find that earning the trust of the customer was important.
The product plans announced in 1987, indicated that we were charging ahead with generation II products based on the same analog technology. The only product in the current lineup I would have kept for the next generation, was the SV6500 Thermal Printer, because it had a digital interface. All the rest needed to be replaced with digital versions. One thing I did accomplish for Gen II, was convincing all the product teams to consider a common electronics platform. Currently, each product team was developing on a different microprocesser, with their own development system, board layouts, etc. It made sense to me that standardizing on one microprocessor and electrical platform would save money, create a common code bank that could be shared across products and used for future products, make trouble shooting easier, etc., etc., etc.. A systems guy was I, simplify, reduce redundancy.
These illustrations were created with my beta copy of Illustrator. |
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