Biology of Business

Polaroid Corporation

Consumer Electronics · Founded 1937 · Defunct 2008

By Alex Denne

Polaroid's 2001 bankruptcy and 2008 final closure ended instant photography after digital cameras made the technology obsolete. The company that invented instant imaging couldn't adapt when everyone carried digital cameras. Attempts at digital products failed. The brand survives, selling retro-styled instant cameras to nostalgic consumers, but Polaroid as a technology company is gone. Polaroid demonstrated that category inventors often can't survive category transformation.

Key Leaders at Polaroid Corporation

Gary DiCamillo

CEO

Key Facts

1937
Founded