On 60th Anniversary, Polaroid Discontinues All Instant Film

That's one more product that technology has killed off completely: On the eve of the product's 60th anniversary, Polaroid is announcing that its namesake instant film is being discontinued. None of Polaroid's two dozen auto-developing products will be produced after 2008.

Depending on the type of film, Polaroid says you can expect to find it on store shelves until the first quarter of 2009, but most of its films will be gone well before then. And don't get too excited about "stocking up" on Polaroid film, either: It will all expire before the end of 2009, after which it will begin to degrade considerably.

Polaroid is of course being made obsolete due to the rampant popularity of digital cameras, which make it easy to see what you just shot thanks to their built-in LCDs, without having to wait at all, unlike Polaroids, and without any additional cost. The next target for digital to make irrelevant will naturally be all chemical film. Digital camera revenue overtook film camera revenue way back in 2000 and digicams have all but eliminated film in the market today, even with professional photographers.

Of course, Polaroid may be down, but it's not out entirely. Its ZINK "zero ink" technology looks like it's coming to market soon, with a mobile photo printer that lets users print 2" by 3" pictures on special paper, without any ink at all. Production is planned to begin sometime this spring. Stay tuned.

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