| URL | KodakGallery.com |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes advertised as "free" but requires yearly purchases |
| Type of site | photo |
| Owner | Kodak |
| Created by | Ofoto |
| Launched | June 1999 |
| Current status | Active |
The Kodak Gallery offers online photo sharing, Kodak prints and photo gifts from consumer digital photos. Its features allow you to view pictures on your mobile phone. The service was originally called Ofoto, and was acquired by Kodak in 2001 and renamed Kodak EasyShare Gallery in 2005. It is currently referred to simply as "Kodak Gallery". Kodak Gallery serves over 60 million users and billions of images as of 2008.[1]
Kodak Gallery offers several different functions: sharing photos online, getting Kodak prints of digital pictures, creating personalized photo gifts and online photo storage.
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Ofoto, an online photography service, was started in June 1999, in Berkeley, California. The company was founded by Lisa Gansky and Kamran Mohsenin. Gansky had previously been CEO of 1990s internet pioneer GNN, while Mohsenin had previously run Tunes Network, Inc., parent of the Tunes.com music discovery Website.
The Ofoto website launched to the public on December 13, 1999, the same day as competing service Shutterfly. While Shutterfly was funded in part by Silicon Valley businessman James Clark, Ofoto was funded in part by Jim Barksdale, Clark's former partner and co-worker from Netscape. This led to the brief "Clark vs. Bark" photo wars.
Ofoto started by simply allowing users to upload JPEG images to the online service, to share online photo albums with friends, and to purchase physical silver-halide prints of photos.
In 2000, Ofoto added a 35mm online film processing service and an online frame store. In following years, Ofoto added 4-color offset printed invitations and cards, and services for mobile phones.
In May 2001, Ofoto was purchased by Eastman Kodak. Ofoto, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kodak and later became the Kodak Imaging Network, Inc.
In 2005, the Ofoto web service was rebranded as the Kodak EasyShare Gallery.
In October 2006, Kodak Gallery launched a new line of products designed by Martha Stewart.
In July 2008, Kodak decided to mail the Kodak Gallery users obliging them to purchase something through their website. If not, consumers would lose their pictures as Kodak blocked their photo albums after their proposed deadline.
Kodak Gallery has received a number of awards. In the July 2006 issue, PC World named Kodak EasyShare Gallery one of The 100 Best Products of the Year.[2] In August 2007, the Wall Street Journal selected Gallery as the winner in an online photo services shootout. .[3] In October 2008, the Boston Globe selected Kodak Gallery as the winner in a review of online photo service web sites.[4]
Uploading photos to Kodak Gallery is free, but unless purchases (e.g., of prints) are made on the site, the pictures are only stored for 90 days and then deleted. The site's terms of service specify that:
The minimum purchases required is between $5 and $20, depending on the amount of pictures stored.
Kodak has received some negative press for deleting photos if users do not order prints after a certain amount of time.[5] Digital photo frame customers complain that web connected photo frame (often costing $300 or more) galleries are not exempted from the policy. Further criticism has come from a former executive who alleges that she was wrongfully fired for complaining about a plan to reduce image quality in order to save on storage costs without giving adequate notice to customers.[6]
In addition to standard custom photo merchandise (such as prints, photo books, stickers, calendars, mugs, cards, apparel, etc.), Kodak Gallery also provides the following services: