Photo-Me International PLC
9 August 2000
PHOTO-ME INTERNATIONAL SIGNS JOINT VENTURE WITH SANDISK CORPORATION OF THE
USA TO BRING DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE MASS CONSUMER MARKET
Photo-Me International (PMI) and SanDisk of the USA announce the creation of a
50/50 Joint Venture to operate self-service Digital Photo Printing Kiosks in
the USA and Canada. The new joint venture company will be called Digital
Portal Inc.
PMI has developed a product using its revolutionary LCD Booster Technology,
which is a self-service Digital Photo Kiosk. These machines may be located in
public places and will allow the fast printing of 6 x 4 photos from digital
cameras. The Digital Photo Kiosks will allow digital camera owners to
conveniently and inexpensively print photos by inserting their digital flash
memory cards, floppy disks and/or CDRom into the kiosks. The Digital Photo
Kiosks will also be connected to the Internet and this will allow users to
store, share and send images in addition to developing their photos.
SanDisk Corporation is the world's leading supplier of flash data storage
products used in a wide variety of electronic systems, including digital
cameras. According to market research firms, SanDisk is the world leader in
the flash card market. The company has optimised its flash memory storage
solution, known as 'system flash,' to address the many needs of emerging
applications in the consumer electronics and industrial/communications
markets. CompactFlash, a small-size flash memory card invented by SanDisk,
has become an industry standard and has been designed into more than 130
digital cameras introduced to the market. SanDisk-branded flash memory cards
are sold in more than 20,000 retail outlets around the world. SanDisk is a
publicly quoted company (NASDAQ:SNDK) and is based in Sunnyvale, California.
It has a market capitalisation of US$4 billion.
The joint venture company will be based in the headquarters of SanDisk and
will be a company recognised under the laws of the State of Delaware. In
order to provide sufficient working capital for the joint venture company,
both parties will contribute US$4 million to the company. It is intended that
the joint venture company will annually deploy a minimum of 2000 Digital Photo
Kiosks for 10 years and this will commence in the final quarter of 2000. PMI
will be responsible for the manufacture of the Digital Photo Kiosks from its
facility in Grenoble, France and will sell them to the joint venture company
at an initial unit price of US$20,000 based on current exchange rates. PMI,
through its operations in the USA, will also be responsible for the
installation and maintenance of the kiosks.
Both parties to the joint venture company believe that the Digital Photo Kiosk
will quickly become popular as they will accept virtually any storage media
used in digital cameras today, including CompactFlash and SmartMediacards,
Secure Digital MultiMediaCards, Memory Stick, CD Rom and floppy disks.
Eli Harari, President and CEO of SanDisk said: 'This is a major step forward
in popularising digital photography. Millions of people will now be much more
likely to buy and use digital cameras because they won't have to deal with the
inconvenience of using computers and printers to get their prints. They'll
instead go to a nearby store, slip their flash memory card or floppy disk into
a kiosk and get their prints in a matter of minutes'
Serge Crasnianski, CEO of Photo-Me said: 'This joint venture confirms that the
LCD Booster Technology we have developed has wide applications. We are
delighted to see its use in the instant development of photos derived from
digital cameras and flash memory. This market is still in its infancy but one
that will surely capture a large part of the US$ 40 billion photo processing
industry from the conventional 35mm and APS formats. SanDisk has world
leadership in the supply of flash data storage products and is a perfect
partner for PMI in developing new businesses around its digital technology.'
Enquiries:
Photo Me International plc 01372 453399
Serge Crasnianski Mobile 033611956363
Jean-Luc Peurois 01372 453399
Bankside Consultants 020-7220 7477
Charles Ponsonby
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.