The end of Polaroid film

This just in from the PMA Newswire:

Polaroid to close U.S. film plants in March, no more instant film by year's end

For months there have been rumors Polaroid Corp. was going to discontinue its instant film, but no official confirmations. The Wall Street Journal substantiated the rumors and reported Concord, Mass.-based Polaroid is shutting its remaining U.S. film plants in Norwood and Waltham, Mass., in March, and will get out of making film for its instant-picture cameras by the end of the year. The Boston Herald posted a similiar article too.

Polariod is shopping its technology and a sale could result in a third party making film for Polaroid products, said spokeswoman Amanda Schuneman, in The Wall Street Journal.

Already on Friday die-hard Polaroid fans were disucussing the plant closings and film discountiation online. Flickr groups dedicated to Polaroid were buzzzing. Many said they hoped Fujifilm would step in and continue making the instant film, according to one Polaroid group discussion string on Flickr. Others said they were going to start hoarding the film now while they still had the chance to buy it in the United States.

Newsline International asked Valhalla, N.Y.-based Fujifilm U.S.A. Inc. about the company's possible role as a film licensing partner, Fujifilm said it hadn't heard about the news yet, and any decision would come from Fujifilm Corp., Tokyo, Japan.

Polaroid filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 and sold most of its assets and trademark name to the private-equity arm of Bank One, now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., in 2002. Bank One sold Polaroid in 2005 for $426 million to Petters Group Worldwide, a holding company for numerous consumer brands, says The Wall Street Journal.

In addition to its two film plants in Massachusetts, Polaroid has facilities in Mexico and the Netherlands, which it will also close later this year. The U.S. plants employ about 150 people.