It must be really scary to be in an industry which is in danger of being wiped out. I remember back in the 80’s school skiing trips in the UK were a niche industry, but a large and profitable business, none the less.

Then the Government introduced the National Curriculum and skiing wasn’t on the curriculum. Meaning that term-time trips were no longer allowed, which effectively killed the industry. And there was nothing they could do about it.

Kodak seem to be in danger of this kind of scenario, certainly as far as their traditional camera and film are concerned. But they’re fighting back as this story in the International Herald Tribune via SmartMobs demonstrates.

Within the next 12 to 18 months, Kodak plans to expand the range of mobile devices that can communicate with the kiosks and also include other wireless technologies, such as Wi-Fi. “We are not married to any particular technology,” said Lisa Gansky, Kodak’s general manager for digital imaging services.

However, it seems that there’s an assumption inherent in their plans that consumers will want to continue their historical habit of wanting to print their photo’s.

I’m not sure this is the case - and certainly it’s not going to happen in the same volumes. The old technology required you to print every photo - good and bad -and be charged for them all. A bit like the music industry selling you an album which often includes dodgy, or certainly unwanted, tracks. And look what happened to them.

But one of the ways I use my mobile phone is as a digital photo album. I’ve never sent a picture by MMS (I’m too mean and it’s as easy to beam them to the lappy and email them free). Neither have I ever printed one of them. But I have showed an awful lot of people my snaps.

Camera phones make photo bores of us all. Have you seen my holiday pictures?