Snapfish
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Photo products, Printing |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
Key people | Manas Chaliha, Vice President and General Manager |
| Products | Photo sharing, Photo products |
| Owner | District Photo |
| Website |
www |
Snapfish is a web-based photo sharing and photo printing service owned by District Photo. Snapfish is based in San Francisco, California. Members can upload files for free, and are given unlimited photo storage.
History
Snapfish was launched in 1999 by business partners Rajil Kapoor, Bala Parthasarathy,[1] Suneet Wadhwa, and Shripati Acharya.[2] Ben Nelson joined soon thereafter as corporate development operations lead, to become CFO and later president.[3]
In 2005, Snapfish was bought by HP.[4] While HP did not disclose the acquisition sum, a Merrill Lynch report estimated that HP may have paid between $300 and 400 million for Snapfish, while Snapfish’s revenue was less than $100 million.[2] Snapfish co-founder Raj Kapoor confirmed in a 2011 interview that the acquisition price was $300 Million.[5]
In 2004, Snapfish opened a physical retail concept store in Alexandria, Virginia, but they later closed the retail store.[6]
As of 2007, Snapfish claimed to have 40 million members and to host 1 billion digital pictures. In August 2013, Snapfish announced on their local websites (and through a mailing to members) that they were shutting down the service in the following countries : Belgium, India, The Netherlands and Spain.[7] They advised existing users to use Pixum and Photojaanic as a replacement service.
In April 2015, HP reached an agreement to sell Snapfish back to District Photo. Under the terms of the sale, HP allowed the company to continue to use its printing services.[8]
Features
Most Snapfish features are free. However, if members want to download high resolution or original copies of their own uploaded images, Snapfish charges a per-image fee for each download. From 26 January 2012 Snapfish stopped charging members for downloading their pictures.[9]
Sharing
Snapfish members can share photo albums, individual photos, animated Snapshows, Group Rooms or Snapfish products. Members can share via email, link URL, and to various other web services such as Facebook, Blogger and MySpace. Like Facebook and unlike Flickr, a Snapfish account is required to view shared photos. An invitation sent from a member to view their photos on Snapfish would require the recipient to create a Snapfish account before viewing.
Snapfish offers a service called Group rooms for sharing amongst many members.
Photo products
Snapfish collects revenue from personalized photo products such as prints, photo books, cards and mugs. Snapfish members can personalize their products in several ways such as adding their photos and, in some cases, adding captions or designed templates. Depending on the product, Snapfish USA supports retail pickup at Meijer, Walgreens and CVS.
See also
- Snapfish Lab, a service of HP Labs
References
- ↑ "Bala Parthasarathy, Co-Founder of Snapfish, Joins Canvera’s Board". February 16, 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013.
- 1 2 "HP to Acquire Leading Online Photo Service Snapfish". Silicon India. March 31, 2005. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013.
- ↑ "Snapfish Management Team". Snapfish. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 January 2013.
- ↑ "HP To Acquire Leading Online Photo Service Snapfish". PALO ALTO, Calif.: HP. March 21, 2005. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013.
- ↑ Gould, Jay (Dec 8, 2011). "Early Role Models Inspired Raj Kapoor to Co-Found Snapfish Before Selling it for $300 Million". Archived from the original on 10 January 2013.
We ended up getting a $300 million offer for cash and a long-term relationship with District Photo.
- ↑ "Snapfish Opens Premier Concept Store Brings Online Photo Services to Retail". HP.
- ↑ "Exclusive: HP Shuts Photosharing & Printing Service Snapfish in India & 3 Other Countries".
- ↑ Robinson, Tony (21 April 2015). "Hewlett-Packard to Sell Snapfish Operation to District Photo". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
- ↑ Snapfish: Help: Product Pricing