An interview with ADOX's Mirko

[Henning Serger]

In Hamburg only place where I saw instax cameras and films were Saturn and Media Markt.

That is were "the masses" go shopping .
And another proof that Instax is not hidden in Germany.
Of course here it does not have that extreme popularity like in lots of Asian countries. But it is gaining popularity, too.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[AgX]

These included a shop having one of the largest used-camera assortments I know. Even one of the largest in Germany.

And it is not about knowing not Instax (they ALL do, one even sells the film.) I said the one I talked to do not know about any marketing campaign by Fuji. This means they have not been contacted on this matter by Fuji.



Again, one can only buy what one knows.
Impossible really was very effective in spreading their news. I often hinted at this. From experience I know about people not related to photography at all who got to know about that enterprise. Though that did not get them into analogue photography. And they mix up Impossible film with Kodak instant film.
Though from my experience Instax is totally unknown.

I did not know about Instax being presented on german tv. Thank you for hinting at that. Anyway, to gain knowledge about Instax as Impossible did, more has to happen than one tv appearance.

That is were "the masses" go Shopping.

When I last checked at these two shops a few months ago they did not offer any Instax camera or film.

Advertizing cameras and films in a photo magazine, a magazine which is completely focussed on your customers, is "hiding" the product? Sorry, ridiculous.

A photo magazine is looked at by people interested already in some form of photography. Not the public I expect to buy Instax. And that is the reason the shops around me do not offer Instax,. They do not expect their clients (reading those magazines) to be interested in Instax. And they think it not worthwhile to market it to a new group of customers.

 

[Xmas]

Yesterday I was in DM in Elbe-Einkaufszentrum:
APX 100: 3.45€
3 x Kodak gold 200: 8.45€
Generic color iso 200: 1.45€ (3 pack = 3.45€)
Generic color iso 400: 1.45€

All films are 36 exp.

If you visit UK bring lots of film with you.

 

[darkosaric]

If you visit UK bring lots of film with you.

I always bring more than I need. Fotoimpex and macodirect have good not expensive films as well - with nice price shipping for us in Germany.

 

[baachitraka]

I always try to order more than Euro 100 to avoid shipping cost in Germany. ;-) Also my budget is not more than 100 at a time...

 

[Tom1956]

I have a dumb question. In the European countries, are their sovereign money systems now gone? For instance, does Germany have marks, France have francs, and so on?

 

[Jessestr]

I have a dumb question. In the European countries, are their sovereign money systems now gone? For instance, does Germany have marks, France have francs, and so on?

Everything changed to euro years and years ago.

 

[RattyMouse]

Instax is a huge success for Fujifilm. That INSTAX isnt found in some parts of Germany is utterly insignificant to Fujifilm. Who cares? You can find INSTAX all across Asia with the utmost of ease. Fujifilm puts the products where they will sell. If I were Fujifilm and INSTAX did not sell in Germany, then I would ignore that market. Easily.

 

[Tom1956]

Everything changed to euro years and years ago.

Thanks. A last dumb question. How was it done? I mean did the average German have to go through their wallets,drawers, cookie jars, and behind the sofa cushions, and gather it all up and turn it in to be issued new Euros? So I guess that means that whatever they couldn't find to turn in is now just a collectors item. Or is it illegal to even own it? I think that cover my questions.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Everything changed to euro years and years ago.

No, not everyone! The United Kingdom STILL has its Pound Sterling.

Tom,
Remember that EU is no more or less than just an organisation where a bunch of idiots try to bully other idiots to obey them.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

Everything changed to euro years and years ago.

Well, not everything. As best I can determine, European Union countries still not using the Euro include Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark and, most prominently, United Kingdom. The latter still uses its Pound Sterling.

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

Thanks. A last dumb question. How was it done? I mean did the average German have to go through their wallets,drawers, cookie jars, and behind the sofa cushions, and gather it all up and turn it in to be issued new Euros? So I guess that means that whatever they couldn't find to turn in is now just a collectors item. Or is it illegal to even own it? I think that cover my questions.

That was about it. I have relatives in Portugal and they just changed from Escudo to Euro almost overnight. And that was a pity: the country went almost bankrupt a few years ago.
There was a period where any coins or notes could be handed over and changed to Euro. The same goes here in the UK when a note or coin changes, There's at least a period of time where one can just go to the Bank of England and change their money.

 

[Tom1956]

No, not everyone! The United Kingdom STILL has its Pound Sterling.

Tom,
Remember that EU is no more or less than just an organisation where a bunch of idiots try to bully other idiots to obey them.

I better not go there. It's political. Besides, that sounds a lot like it is in the US. My questions were actually innocent, born of ignorance and curiosity. No agenda expressed or implied.

In the US, a pound is a unit of weight, equal to 16 ounces, or some completely non-sensical number of grams. I believe the formula is about 28 x 16 = number of grams in a pound. But don't hold me to decimal points on that.

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...How was it done?...

Read about it under "Change of Currency" here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_euro​

Germany started with the Euro on January 1, 1999.

Google is your friend.

 

[RattyMouse]

Thanks. A last dumb question. How was it done? I mean did the average German have to go through their wallets,drawers, cookie jars, and behind the sofa cushions, and gather it all up and turn it in to be issued new Euros? So I guess that means that whatever they couldn't find to turn in is now just a collectors item. Or is it illegal to even own it? I think that cover my questions.

From Wikipedia:

The currency was introduced in non-physical form (traveller's cheques, electronic transfers, banking, etc.) at midnight on 1 January 1999, when the national currencies of participating countries (the eurozone) ceased to exist independently. Their exchange rates were locked at fixed rates against each other. The euro thus became the successor to the European Currency Unit (ECU). The notes and coins for the old currencies, however, continued to be used as legal tender until new euro notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002.

The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the mark officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from several years to forever (the latter in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Estonia and Latvia for banknotes and coins. Also, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Slovakia will accept banknotes forever, but not coins). The earliest coins to become non-convertible were the Portuguese escudos, which ceased to have monetary value after 31 December 2002, although banknotes remain exchangeable until 2022.

 

[Tom1956]

As far as I know, my ignorance on those matters is reflective of any average American's knowledge of European affairs. Our media concentrates on fluff and "social inequity" and hot-button class warfare, but not much education. For that, an American would have to find niche news sources like Forbes, Wall Street Journal, and other similar outlets. It just isn't seen in the network news services that I can tell.
Like AGX says--I learn more here than in the "news" sources. Thanks. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming, which is about Mirko and Adox.

 

[AgX]

Instax is a huge success for Fujifilm. That INSTAX isnt found in some parts of Germany is utterly insignificant to Fujifilm. Who cares? You can find INSTAX all across Asia with the utmost of ease. Fujifilm puts the products where they will sell. If I were Fujifilm and INSTAX did not sell in Germany, then I would ignore that market. Easily.

Exactly.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Google is your friend.

Yeah. Until they start trying to embed my home with hidden computers and interconnected sensors to track my every living motion and breath. Then sell that data so that the next time I gaze back down into the toilet I'll still see what I expect to see, just now mixed together with even more obnoxious Google advertisements. Welcome to the The Internet of Things.

Eeewwww...!



Ken

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...Google is your friend.

Yeah. Until they start trying to embed my home with hidden computers and interconnected sensors to track my every living motion and breath...

I'm not sure which processors/sensors you're referring to. I purchase no hardware from Google, understand the data collection it does and make a calculated trade of those data for search capability. I also control cookies to eliminate any nuisances resulting from the collected data.

To me, this approach sure beats building and maintaining my own search engine. Or needing to ask about the Euro on a photography forum.

 

[RattyMouse]

I'm not interested in being Google's "Product" so I never, ever use Google. My privacy is worth far more that the pathetic tripe Google offers to me in return.

 

[Tom1956]

I'm not interested in being Google's "Product" so I never, ever use Google. My privacy is worth far more that the pathetic tripe Google offers to me in return.

Believe me. They all do it. Your computer is NOT "your computer", any more than "your money in the bank" is yours. When you turn the machine off it can't harm you. And when they come knocking on the door they might be in for a surprise.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

I'm not sure which processors/sensors you're referring to. I purchase no hardware from Google, understand the data collection it does and make a calculated trade of those data for search capability. I also control cookies to eliminate any nuisances resulting from the collected data.

To me, this approach sure beats building and maintaining my own search engine. Or needing to ask about the Euro on a photography forum.

[Warning to the On-Topic Police... this isn't even close.]

And I take the same passive monitoring precautions and trade-offs as well. But as an engineer, I'm certain you can see the potential extrapolated progressions inherent in the leap to active monitoring. Google didn't just pay $3.2 billion because they're worried we might not be warm and comfy next winter...

The Nest Thermostat

Google Makes Its Nest...

Ken

 

[Henning Serger]

A photo magazine is looked at by people interested already in some form of photography. Not the public I expect to buy Instax.

What you expect is completely irrelevant.
Fuji is advertizing Instax in German photo magazines because they know that they can get new customers this way.
Their sales are increasing, so their Instax strategy is working. Period.

And that is the reason the shops around me do not offer Instax,. They do not expect their clients (reading those magazines) to be interested in Instax. And they think it not worthwhile to market it to a new group of customers.

The shops which are offering Instax are selling it very well. So if the shops in your area made the decision to ignore an interesting, successful product.....well, their decision. It is a free country here. Everyone can make the mistakes he wants .
If two or three of the shops in your woods don't offer Instax, so what. It's irrelevant for the German market.
Because all the online distributors here offer Instax, including the big ones working mainly in Digital Imaging, like Foto Brenner, the biggest photo distributor.
Their photo catalog is printed in hundreds of thousands units, and sent to all their customers. Furthermore it is available in all the print magazine shops at the railway stations and airports.
And there are the Fuji Instax cameras and films offered as well, with product pictures. This catalog is a mass medium in Germany.
And in their weekly customer email newsletter they cover Instax as well.
Just today they advertised the new Instax SHARE printer for smartphones using Instax film in their newsletter.
That are the facts.

Regards,
Henning

 

[Sal Santamaura]

...Google didn't just pay $3.2 billion because they're worried we might not be warm and comfy next winter...

The Nest Thermostat

Google Makes Its Nest...

There'll never be one of those in my house. In fact, the old-school, mechanical-clock, mercury-wetted-contacts Honeywell unit that was installed in our newly built home in 1993 will be coming along when we move.

 

[Truzi]

I work in IT, I really like tech, and that Nest thermostat is really cool... but I don't want one. Just because it's cool doesn't mean it will do what I want. If and when I deploy home automation, it will be homemade so I can do what I want the way I want it done, not what somebody thinks (or says) I want.

Still, it's cool.