Ben Wilson

Quote, so now we have achieved our 1943 dream. We've looked at the image in the reflex viewer. We've touched the button five times and we have five dry pictures. The scientists and engineers applauded. He wanted them to respect the results. While those are snapshots, they're handheld, not taken on a tripod. They're just things as you go along.

Quote, so now we have achieved our 1943 dream. We've looked at the image in the reflex viewer. We've touched the button five times and we have five dry pictures. The scientists and engineers applauded. He wanted them to respect the results. While those are snapshots, they're handheld, not taken on a tripod. They're just things as you go along.

I think you will sense in them a new meaning for casual photography that makes it not casual, that gives each user a feeling of personal identification with the world around them in the way that photography has always hoped to do, and which it may have done perhaps for many of the people in this room, but which it has not done for the great mass of people who just move on snapping.

I think you will sense in them a new meaning for casual photography that makes it not casual, that gives each user a feeling of personal identification with the world around them in the way that photography has always hoped to do, and which it may have done perhaps for many of the people in this room, but which it has not done for the great mass of people who just move on snapping.

Now, the announcement of the SX70 might have been premature because initially Polaroid really struggles to fulfill demand. And the stock price of Polaroid actually falls through the basement after this amazing product launch. And for the first couple of models, you know, there's demand issues. They can't produce enough. There are also some technical issues.

Now, the announcement of the SX70 might have been premature because initially Polaroid really struggles to fulfill demand. And the stock price of Polaroid actually falls through the basement after this amazing product launch. And for the first couple of models, you know, there's demand issues. They can't produce enough. There are also some technical issues.

some problems with focus, color bleeding, issues with price as well. It was a very expensive camera, but eventually they come out with a cheaper model called the One Step, and that is the breakthrough product. This is really the first camera that is what you think of when I say Polaroid camera. It works really well. You hit a button and you get a picture with few to no issues.

some problems with focus, color bleeding, issues with price as well. It was a very expensive camera, but eventually they come out with a cheaper model called the One Step, and that is the breakthrough product. This is really the first camera that is what you think of when I say Polaroid camera. It works really well. You hit a button and you get a picture with few to no issues.

With the SX-70 so successful and the price of Polaroid stock now rapidly rebounding, Land moves on to his next big idea, which is instant video. If we can have instant cameras, why not instant videos? He ends up creating a product called Polavision. And it is a massive, like genuinely massive flop. And not only is it a flop, it is crazy.

With the SX-70 so successful and the price of Polaroid stock now rapidly rebounding, Land moves on to his next big idea, which is instant video. If we can have instant cameras, why not instant videos? He ends up creating a product called Polavision. And it is a massive, like genuinely massive flop. And not only is it a flop, it is crazy.

financially disastrous, catastrophic is probably the best way to describe it. They have all of these suppliers. of course. Like they build the camera, but they still need suppliers to manufacture a lot of the components, right?

financially disastrous, catastrophic is probably the best way to describe it. They have all of these suppliers. of course. Like they build the camera, but they still need suppliers to manufacture a lot of the components, right?

And Polaroid ends up having to take over production entirely in-house because all their suppliers are not confident in the product and can't make things exactly to specification. It's completely new. And so they take over production. They build this entire new factory. It's incredibly expensive and it's all for a product that doesn't sell well.

And Polaroid ends up having to take over production entirely in-house because all their suppliers are not confident in the product and can't make things exactly to specification. It's completely new. And so they take over production. They build this entire new factory. It's incredibly expensive and it's all for a product that doesn't sell well.

It was a camcorder as well as a projector, but it doesn't record sound. You can't record for very long. And in order for the projector to work, you have to plug it in, right? So it doesn't even really fulfill its purpose of shoot video, see video, because you have to go plug it in, find something to project it on, like a clean surface. It's a mess.

It was a camcorder as well as a projector, but it doesn't record sound. You can't record for very long. And in order for the projector to work, you have to plug it in, right? So it doesn't even really fulfill its purpose of shoot video, see video, because you have to go plug it in, find something to project it on, like a clean surface. It's a mess.

They end up producing 200,000 Polar Visions, and they only sell 60,000 of them. This is really the product that tanks Polaroid's future. It's a fiasco. It's such a fiasco that land is forced out of the CEO spot by investors and moves into a role as chairman of the board. The successor is able to improve the bottom line quite a bit, but Polaroid loses its ability to innovate.

They end up producing 200,000 Polar Visions, and they only sell 60,000 of them. This is really the product that tanks Polaroid's future. It's a fiasco. It's such a fiasco that land is forced out of the CEO spot by investors and moves into a role as chairman of the board. The successor is able to improve the bottom line quite a bit, but Polaroid loses its ability to innovate.

It turns from a science and research organization to a marketing organization. And so while profitability increases under Land's successor, Polaroid stops creating new great products. It comes to rely more and more on the Polaroid instant camera in the 1990s at the very time that the market is getting ready to transition to digital cameras.

It turns from a science and research organization to a marketing organization. And so while profitability increases under Land's successor, Polaroid stops creating new great products. It comes to rely more and more on the Polaroid instant camera in the 1990s at the very time that the market is getting ready to transition to digital cameras.