After introducing a smartphone at the end of 2016, Kodak’s next venture will be into tablets — sort of. On Thursday, February 16, the Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would license the Kodak name to Archos, a European company, for tablets.
The company has licensed its brand name to several different products since filing for bankruptcy back in 2012. The Kodak Ektra smartphone, for example, is designed and manufactured by the Bullitt Group. By licensing their brand name, the company puts its stamp on products that may not have otherwise come to light, or at least not with the trusted Kodak name on it.
The upcoming tablet is expected to use an 8-megapixel camera and 3G for sharing those photos. The Kodak-branded tablet will also come preloaded with several photo and video apps. The tablet will use a “chic design with the latest technologies,” the company says.
While specific details were limited with the new brand license announcement, Archos expects to bring the tablet to market before this summer.
”We are excited to be adding Archos to our portfolio of brand licensees,” said Brian Cruz, vice president and general manager of Kodak’s Consumer Products Group. “Archos has a strong track record in the computer tablet sector. The French brand was the first to introduce a Google Android tablet in 2009 and is recognized as a key player in the European tablet market with broad retail presence.”
Kodak’s range of branded products that don’t actually come from the company ranges from printers to camera accessories, flashlights to eyeglass lenses. According to its website, each product Kodak licenses from other companies is vetted to adhere to Kodak’s standards even though they don’t come from the company’s development team.
Kodak says the brand license is for the European tablet market. It’s unclear if the branded tablet will also make it’s way outside of Europe.
