Shaking Up the Polaroid Picture Business

Shaking it like a Polaroid picture will soon have new meaning.

Polaroid Corp., which is best known for bringing instant film photography to the masses, has announced plans to halt all manufacturing of instant film by the end of the year. The company will focus its efforts on digital endeavors, including digital cameras and a digital mobile photo printer for cell phones.

Apparently, the company quietly, very quietly, stopped production on their instant cameras over a year ago.

Polaroid is reportedly interested in licensing its instant photography technology to a third party, so loyal customers can obtain the product. But negotiations are tenuous, and could fall through. If that happens instant film consumers will have to switch over to a different photo format, as Polaroid only plans to make enough instant film to last until 2009 or 2011, depending on who is doing the reporting.

Portions of this blog courtesy of The Boston Globe.