Question

Sometimes new technology is introduced before the market is ready for it. When was the market ready for digital photography and what were the prerequisites?

Answer 1

The history of the digital camera began with Eugene F. Lally of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who was thinking about how to use a mosaic photosensor to capture digital images. His 1960s idea was to take pictures of the planets and stars while travelling through space to give information about the astronauts' position. As with Texas Instruments employee Willis Adcock's film-less camera (US patent 4,057,830) in 1972, the technology had yet to catch up with the concept.

The Cromemco Cyclops was an all-digital camera introduced as a commercial product in 1975. Its design was published as a hobbyist construction project in the February 1975 issue of Popular Electronicsmagazine, and it used a 32×32 Metal Oxide Semiconductor sensor.

Steven Sasson, an engineer at Eastman Kodak, invented and built the first self-contained electronic camera that used a charge-coupled device image sensor in 1975. Early uses were mainly military and scientific; followed by medical and news applications.^{[citation needed]}

Nikon was interested in the digital photography since 1986, while presenting to Photokina, an operational prototype of SLR-type digital camera (Still Video Camera) manufactured by Panasonic. Nikon SVC built around a sensor 2/3 " charge-coupled device of 300000 pixels. Storage media, a magnetic floppy inside the camera allows recording 25 or 50 B&W images, depending of the definition. In the mid-to-late 1990s, DSLR cameras became common among consumers. By the mid-2000s, DSLR cameras had largely replaced film cameras.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, Sharp introduced the world's first digital camera phone, the J-SH04 J-Phone, in Japan. By the mid-2000s, higher-end cell phoneshad an integrated digital camera. By the beginning of the 2010s, almost all smartphones had an integrated digital camera.

1. Development of organizational culture as a conscious effort

Mature companies know perfectly well that the conditions and rules governing an organization are of crucial importance for its development and adaptation of new technological tools. In such conditions employees are much less reluctant to implement new tools and tend to look for the best solutions on their own. Therefore these companies remain faithful to the values they cultivate and are open for creating the best working conditions. Such rules apply in almost 80% of mature companies and less than every fourth (23%) fledgling organization.

2. Digital development of managers.

Mature companies don’t need IT experts to develop in this direction. They focus on developing their own talent pool instead. The companies that offer possibilities of technological development to senior leaders deal with change much more effectively. This means that the decision makers who support and inspire employees, must be able to develop IT tools themselves. If they have a keen eye for it, they will make perfect ambassadors of change and mentors.

3. Investing in a talent pool

Similar requirements apply to lower level employees. Mature companies focus on human development in terms of digital skills and knowledge. Such rules apply in over 75% of mature organizations and merely 14% of the not yet technologically advance companies. What’s important, such an approach brings further benefits. Technologically mature companies find it easier to attract new talents (71% of companies declare that young people decide to work for them mostly because of the opportunities related to digital development). Only 10% of the companies that have just begun a technological shift say they have this skill.

4. The role of soft skills

IT knowledge does not play the key role in an organization’s transformation. It is the characteristics of leaders and employees that are of a much greater importance. Technological knowledge plays the first fiddle for 18% of them. However, what they value even more is the vision of transformation (awareness of its role; 22%), ability to collaborate (22%) and visionary skills (20%).