[ghaff]

But, from the perspective of today, Kodak would have had to basically eclipsed Apple.

Even displacing the big Japanese camera manufacturers, who by then had dominated high-end photography, would have required reversing decades of a shift away from high-end cameras like the Retina line.

I don't doubt there was company DNA against digital photography but it's not like non-smartphone photography, especially beyond relatively niche pro/prosumer level, has had such a good run recently either.

[nradov]

There is still a lot of business opportunity in supplying image sensors and lenses to smartphones.

[chiefgeek]

But it is nowhere near as profitable as the 35mm film system was.

[ghaff]

The 35mm system was a huge consumables business down through the food chain. That basically doesn't exist with digital. (Aside from ink jet supplies and I'm not sure how true even that is any longer.)