Kodak will attempt to take on Hewlett-Packard and Canon in the inkjet printer market as it launches its own line of home printers in yet another change in direction.
The US company is shedding 27,000 jobs after belatedly moving away from traditional film - its core success for more than 100 years - to centre on an asset-light model focused on digital products and services. It says that its new home printer model comes with a new type of cartridge that will slash costs for users.
This week's announcement follows the sale of its healthcare imaging unit last month and a move away from the low-end camera business.
Antonio Perez, Kodak's chief executive, who used to head HP's printer division, said: "We are changing the rules in this industry to ensure that consumers can affordably print what they want, when they want, easily and at the high level of Kodak quality they've come to expect."
The company will sell its first printer in March in the US for about $150 (€115). The 5300 model, which will also copy and scan documents and photos, will sell for about $50 more than other similar rival models.
The printer will be available in Britain and Germany in May, and will then be rolled out to the rest of Europe.
A black ink cartridge will cost £6.99 and a colour one will cost £9.99 - about half the current prices.
The company is trying to gain a share of a £22 billion market dominated by HP, Canon, Epson and Lexmark, which typically sell the printers for low prices and rely on the ink for their profit.
Leigh Worthing, an analyst at the market researchers IDC, said they used the classic Gillette business model, which relies on consumers buying new razor blades as the source of the profit. Companies such as HP usually include the print head - the device that sprays the ink on to the paper - in the cartridge, whereas Kodak said it would incorporate it in the printer, a move that would help cut costs.
But a spokesman for HP argued that its cheapest cartridge of black ink cost $9.99, the company had been in the market for more than 25 years and it spent $1 billion on research every year. "They're novices in this new market."
Jaime Cohen Szulc, Kodak's head of Europe, admitted the company was a newcomer. But he said: "If we're coming late to the market, we'd better come with something that revolutionises the market."
Charles LeCompte, president of Lyra Research, a market research firm specialising in the imaging industry, said Kodak's move could change the business model of rivals in the inkjet printer market.
"The products aren't revolutionary but the pricing is. They have found the Achilles heel of everybody else in the business."
