Earlier today Kodak announced that it has chosen ARCHOS as a brand licensee for the European tablet market. Which essentially means that going forward, ARCHOS will be manufacturing a number of Android tablets that come with the Kodak name and branding attached. At least, within Europe.
While the announcement did confirm the agreement between the two brands, the announcement did not go into specifics on the deal. As such, there is no current information as to the extent of the European availability or whether these tablets will be only available to select countries within Europe. Although the announcement did seem to be confirming that the first of these ‘KODAK Tablets’ will start to become available in applicable European stores by the summer of this year. Kodak’s Vice President and General Manager, Brian Cruz, noted that part of the reason for signing with ARCHOS is due to their “strong track record in the computer tablet sector”, as well as highlighting that ARCHOS were one of the first to bring an Android tablet to market. Further adding that ARCHOS have a “broad retail presence” and are a “key player” within the European tablet market.
Although no firm details on what products will come through as a result of this deal were provided, the announcement did provide some insights into what could be expected. For instance, the announcement explains that the Kodak tablets will look to “combine chic design with the latest technologies”. As well as confirming the tablets will come equipped with 3G connectivity and loaded with an 8-megapixel rear camera, and the suggestion that some of the pre-loaded apps will be ideal for “photo and video enthusiasts”. While this deal will see a number of new Kodak-branded tablets coming though, it is only the latest in a line of similar moves by Kodak and follows on from the KODAK EKTRA smartphone which was announced and released in the second half of last year. Like these new tablets, while the KODAK EKTRA smartphone came with the Kodak name attached, it was brought to market by way of a similar brand licensing deal as this.