Berkey Clicks Harder

Among at least three pending antitrust suits filed by competitors against Eastman Kodak Co. is one brought by Berkey Photo, Inc., charging Kodak with "attempts to monopolize"--and all manner of other bad deeds. When it comes to introducing new products, however, Berkey officials apparently think that Rochester's jolly yellow giant knows best. Berkey's Keystone camera division has captured about 15% of the instant-loading market by frankly imitating Kodak's hugely successful Instamatic. Last week, some 15 months after pocket Instamatics were introduced by Kodak, Berkey unveiled its sincere form of flattery: the Pocket Everflash, which uses pocket-cartridge film and has a built-in, battery-powered flash (prices: $54.95 to $89.95, v. $22.95 to $ 137.95 for the Instamatics).

Berkey was founded 40 years ago as a small New York City film developer by Ben Berkey, then a 22-year-old, who used to make pickup and delivery rounds of Manhattan stores on a bicycle. Photofinishing, now on a nationwide basis, still accounts for 37% of Berkey's $ 147 million in annual sales, and Founder Ben is still the chief developer--of a lot more than just film.

Berkey owns the Willoughby-Peerless chain of camera and hi-fi retail stores in New York and Pennsylvania, distributes the Minox and Konica lines of imported camera products, and since 1966 has owned Keystone. A cautious businessman despite his somewhat raffish appearance, Berkey still rues a day in the 1940s when he had a chance to invest in a new product called Polaroid cameras, "but I told them I wouldn't give them a nickel." Last year, Berkey finally managed to recoup a bit on that mistake: Keystone brought out the only instant camera that has ever been developed by a manufacturer other than Polaroid. Company officials decline to say how well sales of the 60-Second Everflash are doing, except to boast that they are "better than we expected."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.