The picture business today is quite hot. Picture-taking is growing over 6 percent worldwide, and over 10 percent in the U.S. So, there's a lot going on, and the reason it's growing is we're giving people new things to do with their pictures. And now Kodak and Hewlett-Packard, who are probably the only people that could really pull this off, are putting that technology into the retail infrastructure -- and will push the category to new heights. |
They can send them to retailers online. They can drop their flash memory off. They get their films scanned. And by doing that, they can get it in more places faster and at a very competitive cost, and that will grow the whole pictures business. |
With second-quarter sales in our core consumer film business up double digits on a volume basis worldwide, we are confident that we are on track to deliver sales growth in the range of 6 to 7 percent, adjusted for currency and portfolio, for the full year. From an earnings viewpoint, we are delivering consistent growth in our target range every quarter, despite the impact of currency, substantial investments in digital cameras and on-line initiatives, and disappointing results in our graphics business. |