• •Kodak engineer Steve Sasson built the first digital camera in 1975, capturing 0.01-megapixel black-and-white images.
• •Internal reports confirm Kodak leadership viewed digital technology as a threat to their dominant film-based revenue model.
• •The core unanswered question remains whether a more aggressive internal pivot would have been financially viable given the decade-long gap between the prototype and commercial viability.

Eastman Kodak developed the first digital camera in 1975 but failed to capitalize on the technology, eventually filing for bankruptcy in 2012. Unlike modern startups that are rewarded for disrupting their own products, Kodak operated under a high-margin film business that disincentivized early digital adoption. This conflict illustrates a classic case of 'innovator's dilemma,' where successful companies struggle to cannibalize their primary cash cow. Whether legacy firms can ever successfully transition to new business models without first losing their market lead remains an open debate in corporate strategy.