Impossible GmbH, the company behind The Impossible Project, has stated its stance on the recent announcement of the Polaroid 300 camera. In October 2009, The Impossible Project and the new licensee of the Polaroid brand – The Summit Global Group – announced the relaunch of some of the most famous Polaroid instant cameras; for which Impossible was supposed to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid branded instant films. In January 2010, Polaroid unveiled their plans of producing a new, classic instant camera, the PIC 1000. Then, at the end of April, they launched a completely different model, the Polaroid 300, essentially a rebranded Fujifilm Instax Mini 7S, which uses Fujifilm’s Instax Mini instant film and its Polaroid branded version. Marlene Kelnreiter, Communications and PR manager of Impossible, has told PhotographyBLOG that the “management of The Impossible Project finds this confusing and clearly wants to state that the Polaroid 300 is not the camera that has been announced in Polaroid’s Press Release from January 7, 2010, which would be compatible with Instant Film produced by Impossible.” Click through / read on to read the full statement.

Statement of Impossible GmbH

On April 29, Polaroid presented the “new” Polaroid 300 camera, which is basically a re-introduction of the Polaroid Mio from 2001. A camera nearly identical with the Fuji Instax 7 camera (using a rebranded Fuji Instax film), a product existing and available for nearly a decade and not at all compatible with traditional Polariod film. This is a suprising instant twist in communication as Polaroid promised the comeback of their traditional Instant Film format.

The management of The Impossible Project finds this confusing and clearly wants to state that the Polaroid 300 is not the camera that has been announced in Polaroid’s Press Release from January 7, 2010, which would be compatible with Instant Film produced by Impossible. The Impossible Project is NOT involved with the comeback of the Polaroid Mio, now Polaroid 300, and unfortunately has no current information if Polaroid will launch the announced Polaroid 1000 camera in combination with Instant films produced by Impossible.

With this “new” camera release, Polaroid continues twisting its story:

In 1947 Polaroid proudly presented instant photography and completely changed the way of people thinking and acting photographically. Within the following decades, Polaroid became one of the most innovative brands under the leadership of Edwin Land, continuously developing most unique products for their customers. Not all of Polaroid’s products succeeded, the Polavision instant movie system turned out to be a financial failure and Edwin Land had to resign as Polaroid’s chairman on March 6, 1980. From then on, more commercially orientated managers guided Polaroid into a mass market, developing camera systems like the Polaroid I-Zone, based on traditional Polaroid instant technologies.

Cutting down in development, Polaroid even presented a camera called Polaroid Mio, basically a re-branded Fuji camera, based on the Fuji instant technology in 2001. Shortly after introduction of the Polaroid Mio, Polaroid filed Chapter 11 the first time in 2001. It survived and under the leadership of Tom Petters, Polaroid finally got completely transformed to digital products. In 2007 Polaroid stopped production of instant cameras, in 2008 of instant film.

In 2009, Polaroid’s new owners and managers contacted The Impossible Project to discuss possible cooperations regarding bringing analog Instant Photography back. In October 2009 The Impossible Project and the new licensee of the Polaroid Brand – The Summit Global Group – announced the relaunch of some of the most famous Polaroid Instant Cameras; Impossible was supposed to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid® branded Instant Films in the middle of 2010. In January 2010 Polaroid announced their plans of producing a new, classic instant camera, the PIC 1000. Now Polaroid released a rebranded Fuji camera, and Impossible has no current information if Polaroid will launch the announced Polaroid 1000 camera in combination with Instant films produced by Impossible.

Marlene Kelnreiter
Communications & Press Relations

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