America Online Inc and Eastman Kodak Co have joined forces to launch a service that will deliver digital photos online directly to AOL members. The service, called You’ve Got Pictures! allows AOL subscribers to drop film off at participating retail outlets and have digital images scanned, uploaded and delivered to a specific AOL account. Photos can then be arranged in a personal photo album and emailed to others. The joint venture, which has seen each company spend tens of millions of dollars, according to one AOL executive, will launch later this year. Kodak and AOL will share revenues from the service, but specific financial details were not disclosed. Bob Pittman, chief operating officer of AOL, said the partnership allows his company to propel itself even further into the mass market, something that has been its goal all along. Both companies are counting on the deal to generate significant revenue and provide a major push for digital imaging. Pittman likes the market’s potential, pointing to the fact that Americans take 20 billion pictures each year, while AOL members receive 29 billion emails. Both companies said they will make joint investments in advertising and marketing, product development, and ongoing support. In addition, AOL has made a minority investment in Kodak’s PictureVision division. The service has grown out of the Kodak PhotoNet Online offering, which itself is a consolidation of Kodak’s own Picture Network and the network of PictureVision Inc, in which Kodak acquired a controlling interest two months ago (CI No 3,358). To use the service, members will give their AOL screen name to the retailer and pay an extra $5 to $7 on top of normal development fees to have the digital images sent to them, usually within 48 hours. When the photos are ready for online viewing, the subscriber receives notification upon logging on to AOL and can retrieve them in a photo in-box, much like with any e-ail software. Users can also order reprints and other products, such as personalized calendars, online. AOL will provide one photo album free of charge to each member, but beyond that they will charge an added fee which has yet to be determined. Images not posted to albums will be kept for 30 days before being deleted by AOL. Non-AOL members can view member’s albums for free by obtaining a screen name at the AOL.com web site, but will have to pay if they want to use the delivery and storage services themselves over the web. Later this year, kiosks should be available at retailers for non- PC owners to view and order copies of pictures posted online. Details on that elemement of the service are still to come. The partners expect more than 30,000 retail locations across the US that process Kodak film to participate in the initiative, although any kind of film can be used.
