Common sense tells us that it seems very unlikely that firms which invest millions in R&D and employ some of the brightest scientists and engineers in the world would fail to see a technological revolution with such profound effects for the industry and for photographers. Moreover, a glimpse at the history of digital imaging is enough to confirm that many of the established players not only recognized the shift at an early point, but also embraced it and were active in pushing the technology forward. Kodak developed the first megapixel sensor in 1986, Polaroid invested extensively in digital imaging and had a prototype ready in 1992, Leica launched a digital studio camera in 1997 and Hasselblad had developed a 6 Megapixel prototype camera in early 1996. Why then, have established players encountered such difficulties despite often responding to the threat at an early point? Below, I outline what I think are the three main reasons for this.
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