CVS/pharmacy to Offer Mobile Camera Phone Image Printing
CVS Will Become the First National Chain to Offer the Ability to Print From Mobile Imaging-Enabled Phones and Wireless Devices at KODAK Picture Maker Kiosks
WOONSOCKET, R.I., Dec 3, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CVS/pharmacy (NYSE: CVS) announced today plans to introduce mobile image printing capabilities at KODAK Picture Maker kiosks at more than 3,000 stores nationwide. The service, to be available in early 2004, will make CVS the first national retailer to offer customers the ability to print pictures from their image-enabled mobile phones.
Earlier this year, CVS successfully introduced "Pictures from your Digital Camera" from KODAK Picture Maker kiosks, enabling customers to produce photo-quality prints from digital media including camera cards, CDs and disks. The service provides customers with a simple, fast and affordable way to print digital images.
Starting in early 2004, enhancements to the KODAK Picture Maker kiosks will allow mobile camera phone users to beam their images to the kiosk using Bluetooth(TM) or Infrared (IrDA) technologies. Customers can then edit, enhance, and print their photos in minutes.
"CVS continues to be a retail leader in the move to digital," said Judy Strauss Sansone, Vice President of Merchandising/Photo for CVS. "The ability to walk in to your corner CVS/pharmacy and quickly print photos directly from your mobile phone is the next wave of retail digital photo services. The wireless capability of the Kodak Picture Maker kiosk also makes digital imaging easier for our busy customers."
"Our research shows that consumers have a strong desire to print their digital pictures at retail. Next year, there will be tens of millions of camera phones in use capturing billions of images. The Kodak Picture Maker kiosk is an ideal way for people to print pictures at retail from digital cameras or camera phones," said Chris Sliva, Output Business Manager, US&C, Consumer & Professional Imaging, Eastman Kodak Company. "As the overall number of digital images captured - whether through digital cameras or mobile phones -- continues to grow, we want to make it as easy as possible to have access to and print these pictures where and when they want," Sliva said.
In addition to the wireless option, customers will still have the choice of inserting a memory card into the kiosk. The KODAK Picture Maker kiosks currently accept CompactFlash cards, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Secure Digital (SD), xD, multimedia (MMC) card formats, Picture CDs, picture disks, and beginning this spring, the kiosks will also accept Memory Stick Pro. The KODAK Picture Maker will support JPEG (.jpg), Bitmap (.bmp) and Tagged Image Format (.tif) files.
At the kiosk, customers will use a simple touch screen to preview and select only the photos they want to print, choose sizes and quantities, and make image enhancements such as red-eye reduction. Prints will be ready for pick-up upon checkout. New 3" x 4" and 1.5" and 2" photo prints will be available from the enhanced kiosks.
Celebrating 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail pharmacy industry, CVS is committed to being the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. With approximately 4,100 stores in 32 states and the District of Columbia, CVS has created innovative approaches to serve the healthcare needs of all its customers through its online pharmacy, CVS.com and its pharmacy benefit management and specialty pharmacy subsidiary, PharmaCare Management Services. General information about CVS is available through the Investor Relations portion of the Company's website, at http://investor.cvs.com.
SOURCE: CVS/pharmacy
CVS Corporation
Todd Andrews, 401-770-5717
Posted by Craig at December 3, 2003 08:46 PM