荣枯一瞬间：宝丽来公司兴衰史

    2001年11月12号《财富》杂志（Fortune）曾经刊登过一篇回顾性的文章。记者大卫•惠特福德在文中这样写道：“30年来，兰德及其麾下那些聪明的研究人员一直在马萨诸塞州坎布里奇市实验室潜心完善摄影技术。甚至在如今已经产生技术疲惫的孩子和成人看来，这种把戏依然至酷无比，简直不可思议。”

    兰德是一位干劲十足、极其看重质量的管理者，亲身参与了产品开发的每个步骤，还向加入其团队的工程师、科学家和化学家提出了越来越多的要求。他一向是一位有远见的人。1970年，在谈到未来的相机时，他将其描述为“一件总是伴随人们左右的事物”，一种可以径直从口袋掏出来，对准目标直接拍摄的设备。

    兰德还是一位终极推销员。每逢宝丽来公司的年度会议，他总会步入一个空荡荡的舞台中央，向提供背景音乐的音乐家挥手致意，然后一边走动，一边介绍该公司最新推出的产品。如果这一幕听起来有些熟悉的话，那绝不是什么巧合。另一位大学辍学生史蒂夫•乔布斯创建了一家在许多方面类似于宝丽来的公司。他经常说，埃德温•兰德是他的榜样和偶像。

    并不是所有人都坚信宝丽来的价值。它最大的批评者来自华尔街，他们很难认同宝丽来公司在上世纪70年代高耸入云的估值，该公司当时的市盈率高达90倍。事实最终证明，这些批评者是正确的。这家公司进军电影业务的主打产品、宝丽来自动显像电影摄影机（Polavision）最终败给了录像机。兰德退休之后，新任CEO和新产品相继出现，但Pronto!、OneShot、Spectra和其他背负着沉重塑料的宝丽来下线产品，几乎跟经典的SX-70相机（由皮革和金属制成）没有任何相似之处。

    1976年，柯达公司推出了自己的即时相机和胶卷，影像产业的格局进一步混乱。1990年，宝丽来公司赢得了其有史以来规模最大的专利侵权案，获赔9.09亿美元，但这笔赔偿金实在是杯水车薪，而且已经为时晚矣。当时，一小时照片冲印店已经出现，随后来临的则是终极游戏规则改变者——数码摄影。

    2001年10月13日，在911恐怖袭击爆发的一个月后，深陷债务、无力回击数码相机挑战的宝丽来公司申请破产。此后，宝丽来公司几经转手，其中一次甚至被卖给了明尼阿波利斯州一家只对其地产、艺术收藏和商标感兴趣的公司。后来，这个买家的老板因操作庞氏骗局（Ponzi）被判入狱50年之后，宝丽来公司不得不第二次申请破产。

    本书结尾部分用一章的篇幅简明扼要地介绍了宝丽来公司最后几年的历史，以及最后一个以宝丽来命名的产品——“不可能的FPU（胶片处理器）”。波南斯介绍说，宝丽来商标当前的拥有者“不懂埃德温•兰德”。这一句，便已足以说明一切。

    《财富》书签（Weekly Read）专栏专门刊载《财富》杂志（Fortune）编辑团队的书评，解读商界及其他领域的新书。我们每周都会选登一篇新的评论。本文作者劳伦斯•A•阿莫尔是《时代》（Time）、《财富》、《理财》（Money）和《体育画报》（Sports Illustrated）等杂志个性化内容的副主编。

    译者：任文科

    In a look-back piece in our November 12, 2001 issue, Fortune's David Whitford put it this way: "For three decades Land and the brilliant researchers in his Cambridge, Mass. laboratory were consumed with perfecting a trick that even today, in the eyes of techno-weary children and grownups alike, is more than cool -- it's magical."

    Land, a driven manager and a stickler for quality, was there at every step, demanding more and more from the engineers, scientists and chemists who joined the team. He was always a visionary. In 1970 he discussed the camera of the future, describing it as "something that was always with you," a device that you would simply take out of your pocket, point, and shoot.

    Land was also the ultimate salesman. At Polaroid's annual meetings he would move to the center of an empty stage, wave to the musicians who were backing his performance, and put the company's latest products through their paces. If any of this sounds familiar, it's no coincidence. Steve Jobs, another college dropout who built a company that resembles Polaroid in many respects, often described Edwin Land as a role model and hero.

    Not everyone believed in Polaroid. Its biggest critics were on Wall Street, which had a hard time buying Polaroid's lofty valuations during the 1970s, when the shares sold for 90 times earnings. Eventually the skeptics were proven right. Polavision, the company's entry into the motion picture business, got clobbered by video. Land retired. New CEOs and new products appeared, but Pronto!, OneShot, Spectra, and the other plastic-heavy Polaroids that rolled off the assembly line bore little if any resemblance to the classy leather-and-metal SX-70.

    The picture was further muddied in 1976 when Kodak introduced its own line of instant cameras and film. In 1990 Polaroid was awarded $909 million in the biggest patent-infringement judgment in history, but it was much too little and much too late. By then one-hour photo labs had arrived on the scene, followed by the ultimate game-changer: digital photography.

    Deep in debt and lacking the firepower needed to compete in digital, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy on October 13, 2001, a month after the September 11 attacks. The company has since been sold and resold several times, including one sale to a Minneapolis company that was interested in its real estate, art collection, and name. After the head of that firm was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme, Polaroid filed for a second bankruptcy.

    The company's last few years are covered in a slim chapter at the end of the book, along with a look at the Impossible FPU (for film processing unit), the latest in a long line of products to carry the Polaroid name. According to Bonanos, the current owner of the Polaroid label "doesn't know much about Edwin Land." And that, in a nutshell, says it all.

    Our Weekly read column features Fortune staffers' and contributors' takes on recently published books about the business world and beyond. We've invited the entire Fortune family -- from our writers and editors to our photo editors and designers -- to weigh in on books of their choosing based on their individual tastes or curiosities. Lawrence A. Armour is deputy editor of custom content for Fortune, Time, Money, and Sports Illustrated.