First Film, Now 4x6" Photo Snapshots Are Fading Away, Reports Photo Industry Expert
Film is dead and so too will be those traditional photo snapshots. No more 4x6" prints at ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc.
Irvine, CA (PRWEB) October 17, 2007 -- First, the ocean-sized shift in the photo industry swallowed up film. Now, according to Mitch Goldstone, a well-known leader in the photo imaging industry, "film is dead, and right behind it are those traditional 4x6" photo snapshots."
Just as digital replaced film, Photo Flip-Books are poised to replace individual snapshots. As a respected and visionary leader in the photo industry since 1990, Goldstone wants to force consumers to see the future. So, ScanMyPhotos.com, and its parent company, 30 Minute Photos Etc. will no longer be promoting traditional 4x6" print services.
"In advance of the holiday picture-taking season, to help force consumers to see the future, 4x6" prints are now history at 30 Minute Photos Etc. Instead, the company is using Lucidiom kiosks to let everyone make their own custom photo expressions," said Goldstone.
Last week, Goldstone, president and CEO of ScanMyPhotos.com and 30 Minute Photos Etc. addressed the International Photo Marketing Association's UK conference outside of London. He seemed to shock the international audience of photo specialty retailers, because while overseas, photo labs are still developing and printing film, it is at a reduced rate. His assessment was extra worrisome, because his message also warned that photo snapshots are disappearing at an even faster rate. Today, picture-takers, especially the youth market are snapping more pictures than ever, but just not making prints. Instead, they turn their digital cameras and camera phone around to share their collection of photo memories.
However, Goldstone was very encouraged about the innovations and future of the imaging industry because, just as his company, ScanMyPhotos.com, created an entirely new business model to provide super-fast and very economical ways to preserve the trillions of analog pictures that span generations, the next "new-new thing" is 6x6" Photo Flip-Books. Once the pictures are digitized, rather than ordering prints, the most popular request now are to build do-it-yourself Photo Flip-Books. In minutes, his customers choose all their favorite shots and create custom albums that have dozens of templates and styles. Using the Lucidiom kiosks, you can start with a single cover photo, than add multiple pages and modern layouts with a variety of choices, from two, three and four pictures on each page.
Diane and George Sanders use to have about five or six rolls of film developed each year, then came digital cameras and they no longer bought film. Today, the same is happening with how they save and show off their favorite snapshots. In the past, they would order double prints of every picture, now they are using the new Lucidiom photo kiosks to create inexpensive Photo Flip-Books that are finished and ready for pickup in minutes.
"This is a multibillion dollar market that will offset the decline of film developing and print processing," notes Goldstone.
"Our customers, like Diane and George Sanders ordered not one, but separate Photo Flip-Books for everyone photographed at their recent company party," says Goldstone. "The cost was just $7.99 each and all twenty four books were completed within minutes."
Goldstone continues: "Thanks to Lucidiom, the double-sided Photo Flip-Books are the new way to tell stories of events and celebrations and share pictures while having fun. The do-it-yourself kiosks are today's answer to reinvigorating the entire photo business. For more than one-hundred years, the 4x6" print size was the only pictures that fit in albums, but now we have a new way to create more photo products than ever, from electronic scrapbooking pages, to DVD Cinema presentations, Wall Art and collage prints that are completed in minutes."
ScanMyPhotos.com is the leader in super-fast photo scanning with same day return and two innovative services; pay just $149.95 to order a prepaid U.S. Postal Service box that holds more than 1,600+ pictures, or $64.00 to scan up to 1,000 pictures with same day return with several personalized options. The company, a division of 30 Minute Photos Etc., operates a nationwide ecommerce photo business and retail photo center based in Irvine, Calif. and was founded in 1990 by co-owners, Mitch Goldstone and Carl Berman. ScanMyPhotos.com uses the award-winning KODAK Document Imaging scanners to preserve generations of photo memories and recently announced it scanned its three-millionth picture. Goldstone is a regular speaker at the Photo Marketing Association and DIMA and has addressed this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Optical Storage Symposium.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/10/prweb561502.htm
