Archos and Kodak signed a brand licensing deal today with Archos CEO Loïc Poirier and VP of Kodak’s Consumer Products Group, Brian Cruz making the following comments:
We are very proud to become one of Kodak’s licensees to jointly develop their brand into the tablet world. We truly look forward to putting these devices into people’s hands.
We are excited to be adding ARCHOS to our portfolio of brand licensees … 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.
Let us quickly translate that for you. "We cant wait to slap the Kodak brand that once stood for something onto another set of mediocre devices to hopefully get an easy buck by riding the nostalgia wave".
With that important clar ification out of the way, here are some details on the deal. A few years back Kodak tanked and only managed to save its brand name by a thin thread. Since then, the legendary US company has been signing licensing deals with third party hardware developers. Last years Kodak Ektra smartphone, being a good example of the fruits of one such partnership.
Now, it appears, Archos has procured itself a golden brand to plaster on some devices as well. While Archos isnt a company of particularly bad reputation, we doubt it has the expertise to develop a device to add meaning to the Kodak branding. Stranger still, Archos plans to put the famous logo on tablets, which really arent the most photography-oriented devices out there.
The Press release says these "tablets", plural, will be released some time in 2017. Besides the Kodak brand itself, they will also be pre-loaded with apps that: "will provide ph oto and video enthusiasts with creative options". This will all be made possible through an 8MP camera. We have no further comments on that. Oh, and there will be 3G connectivity to enjoy as well. Truly exciting stuff...
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