Introduced in 1998, the instax instant camera allowed users to take and produce photos on the spot. Friends could take and exchanges photos, and it was a great way to enhance communication in a group. The product was extremely popular, especially among teenage girls.
Sales peaked in 2002 and then dropped rapidly. The cause was not difficult to determine: starting in the year 2000, digital cameras, mobile phones with digital cameras, and eventually modern smartphones with digital still and video cameras were quickly becoming popular. The biggest selling point of instax had been its ability to take and print out a photo instantly, yet, similarly, a digital camera let users see results instantly on the LCD. A mobile phone with a camera could do that and conveniently send photos to friends as well. In sum, digital photos seemed simpler, speedier, and just plain newer than instant photos.
instax was not the only product affected by this trend. Polaroid Corporation exited the instant camera and film business in 2008.
instax was clearly at a turning point, as was Fujifilm itself. The age of digital photography was also destroying the market for traditional photographic film, forcing Fujifilm to build on its other businesses and expand into new ones. Fortunately, the company was up to the task, logging success after success in highly functional materials and advanced healthcare solutions and other new initiatives. In the area of photography, Fujifilm was working hard to satisfy strong demand in the market for high-performance digital printing systems. Meanwhile, instax was a 100% analog product, and its sales were running at one-tenth its peak. For this once-great product, there was very little positive news to report.
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