Photography, imaging and printing giant Eastman Kodak Co. has gone mobile with the launch of the free Kodak Pic Flick application for Apple?s iPhone and iPod touch.

Developed in house, the application enables consumers to upload pictures to a Kodak W1020 Wireless Digital Frame or print them wirelessly on the Kodak ESP 5250 All-in-One WiFi-enabled printer. The application is designed to drive sales of those products and increase brand affinity.

?A lot of our connectivity strategy has to do with releasing images and making them available in more than a digital way, and this app allows images captured via iPhone and iPod touch to be transferred to a printer or a Kodak digital photo frame,? said Ruben Tellez, San Diego-based worldwide senior product manager of inkjet products in the consumer digital group at Eastman Kodak.

?Our strategy includes desktop PCs and the new branch we?re embarking on is mobile access to content, and part of that is the iPhone,? he said. ?We want to be where the consumer is going for images, so mobile is part of our strategy and we?re going to continue to drive that.

?As part of that two-pronged strategy of desktop and mobile applications, we have a keen eye on mobile, because we?re trying to get consumers to their content faster and deliver a mechanism to get to their content easily.?

Eastman Kodak Co. is a multinational U.S. corporation that produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment. Long known for its wide range of photographic film products, Kodak is re-focusing on two major markets: digital photography and digital printing.

Kodak?s mobile moment
The Kodak Pic Flick application is dual-purpose for printing and sharing. Consumers can print pictures on a Kodak ESP 5250 AiO printer or share them on the Kodak W1020 Wireless Digital Frame directly from their Apple iPhone or iPod touch.

In addition, the application is compatible with Kodak?s W820 WiFi Digital Frame.

Users can wirelessly print and share images when they are within WiFi network range. They can also print photos from 2x3 to 8.5x11 inches on the Kodak ESP 5250 AiO printer.

The target demographic for the iPhone application is primarily females, especially urban-dwelling moms.

The Kodak Pic Flick application http://www.Kodak.com/go/PicFlick is free and is available in the App Store. It works on Apple iPhone and iPod touch devices using OS version 2.2 and above.

To send a print job or a file to the Kodak ESP 5250 All-in-One printer or to the Kodak W1020 Wireless Digital Frame, consumers need to ensure that the device is connected to the same LAN/WiFi connection as their iPhone or iPod touch device.

The Kodak ESP 5250 AiO printer, available since September 2009, is the latest in Kodak's range of AiO consumer printers.

The WiFi-enabled AiO printer retails for $159.99 and features a 2.4-inch color LCD display panel to view and crop images along with built-in memory card compatibility.

The Kodak W1020 Wireless Digital Frame can hold up to 4,000 photos and can display and play pictures, video and audio clips. The 10" W1020 retails for $229.95.

Kodak plan to create awareness of the application at the retail level with presence at the point of sale. The company declined to name specific retail partners.

This is Kodak?s first mobile platform, and while no other  releases are planned for the near future, mobile is on the company?s road map.

?Mobile is a segment we?re definitely keen on, and when the moment is appropriate, we?ll address customer need in other areas if there is one,? Mr. Tellez said. ?Mobile is tremendously important, because listening to data, we know the projection of growth?50 million smartphones will be shipped in North America in 2010.

"Sixteen percent of mobile-phone users want to print, including 49 percent of smartphone users, so there?s quite a bit of need and we need to address that need, so we?ll be participating in that,? he said. ?You will see us in the mobile field moving forward with our products.?