THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY ON THE 'PHOTOGRAPHY' INDUSTRY, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: A PRACTICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE IN TWO ACTS

摘要

This paper examines the development, growth, and interaction of two innovations, both of which were discontinuous in their own way and time. The first, "chemical photography," due to the nature of the underlying level of general knowledge, took some thousand years to move from conception to feasibility and almost 150 years to grow from commercial introduction to ultimate maturity. The second, "digital photography," took approximately twenty years to go from conception to commercial introduction and, in the following fifteen years, made the first nearly obsolete. As underlying digital technology continues to develop, the remaining (and repetitive) question is "what next?"