????2001年11月12號《財富》雜志（Fortune）曾經(jīng)刊登過一篇回顧性的文章。記者大衛(wèi)?惠特福德在文中這樣寫道：“30年來，蘭德及其麾下那些聰明的研究人員一直在馬薩諸塞州坎布里奇市實驗室潛心完善攝影技術。甚至在如今已經(jīng)產(chǎn)生技術疲憊的孩子和成人看來，這種把戲依然至酷無比，簡直不可思議。”

????蘭德是一位干勁十足、極其看重質量的管理者，親身參與了產(chǎn)品開發(fā)的每個步驟，還向加入其團隊的工程師、科學家和化學家提出了越來越多的要求。他一向是一位有遠見的人。1970年，在談到未來的相機時，他將其描述為“一件總是伴隨人們左右的事物”，一種可以徑直從口袋掏出來，對準目標直接拍攝的設備。

????蘭德還是一位終極推銷員。每逢寶麗來公司的年度會議，他總會步入一個空蕩蕩的舞臺中央，向提供背景音樂的音樂家揮手致意，然后一邊走動，一邊介紹該公司最新推出的產(chǎn)品。如果這一幕聽起來有些熟悉的話，那絕不是什么巧合。另一位大學輟學生史蒂夫?喬布斯創(chuàng)建了一家在許多方面類似于寶麗來的公司。他經(jīng)常說，埃德溫?蘭德是他的榜樣和偶像。

????并不是所有人都堅信寶麗來的價值。它最大的批評者來自華爾街，他們很難認同寶麗來公司在上世紀70年代高聳入云的估值，該公司當時的市盈率高達90倍。事實最終證明，這些批評者是正確的。這家公司進軍電影業(yè)務的主打產(chǎn)品、寶麗來自動顯像電影攝影機（Polavision）最終敗給了錄像機。蘭德退休之后，新任CEO和新產(chǎn)品相繼出現(xiàn)，但Pronto!、OneShot、Spectra和其他背負著沉重塑料的寶麗來下線產(chǎn)品，幾乎跟經(jīng)典的SX-70相機（由皮革和金屬制成）沒有任何相似之處。

????1976年，柯達公司推出了自己的即時相機和膠卷，影像產(chǎn)業(yè)的格局進一步混亂。1990年，寶麗來公司贏得了其有史以來規(guī)模最大的專利侵權案，獲賠9.09億美元，但這筆賠償金實在是杯水車薪，而且已經(jīng)為時晚矣。當時，一小時照片沖印店已經(jīng)出現(xiàn)，隨后來臨的則是終極游戲規(guī)則改變者——數(shù)碼攝影。

????2001年10月13日，在911恐怖襲擊爆發(fā)的一個月后，深陷債務、無力回擊數(shù)碼相機挑戰(zhàn)的寶麗來公司申請破產(chǎn)。此后，寶麗來公司幾經(jīng)轉手，其中一次甚至被賣給了明尼阿波利斯州一家只對其地產(chǎn)、藝術收藏和商標感興趣的公司。后來，這個買家的老板因操作龐氏騙局（Ponzi）被判入獄50年之后，寶麗來公司不得不第二次申請破產(chǎn)。

????本書結尾部分用一章的篇幅簡明扼要地介紹了寶麗來公司最后幾年的歷史，以及最后一個以寶麗來命名的產(chǎn)品——“不可能的FPU（膠片處理器）”。波南斯介紹說，寶麗來商標當前的擁有者“不懂埃德溫?蘭德”。這一句，便已足以說明一切。

????《財富》書簽（Weekly Read）專欄專門刊載《財富》雜志（Fortune）編輯團隊的書評，解讀商界及其他領域的新書。我們每周都會選登一篇新的評論。本文作者勞倫斯?A?阿莫爾是《時代》（Time）、《財富》、《理財》（Money）和《體育畫報》（Sports Illustrated）等雜志個性化內(nèi)容的副主編。

????譯者：任文科

????In a look-back piece in our November 12, 2001 issue, Fortune's David Whitford put it this way: "For three decades Land and the brilliant researchers in his Cambridge, Mass. laboratory were consumed with perfecting a trick that even today, in the eyes of techno-weary children and grownups alike, is more than cool -- it's magical."

????Land, a driven manager and a stickler for quality, was there at every step, demanding more and more from the engineers, scientists and chemists who joined the team. He was always a visionary. In 1970 he discussed the camera of the future, describing it as "something that was always with you," a device that you would simply take out of your pocket, point, and shoot.

????Land was also the ultimate salesman. At Polaroid's annual meetings he would move to the center of an empty stage, wave to the musicians who were backing his performance, and put the company's latest products through their paces. If any of this sounds familiar, it's no coincidence. Steve Jobs, another college dropout who built a company that resembles Polaroid in many respects, often described Edwin Land as a role model and hero.

????Not everyone believed in Polaroid. Its biggest critics were on Wall Street, which had a hard time buying Polaroid's lofty valuations during the 1970s, when the shares sold for 90 times earnings. Eventually the skeptics were proven right. Polavision, the company's entry into the motion picture business, got clobbered by video. Land retired. New CEOs and new products appeared, but Pronto!, OneShot, Spectra, and the other plastic-heavy Polaroids that rolled off the assembly line bore little if any resemblance to the classy leather-and-metal SX-70.

????The picture was further muddied in 1976 when Kodak introduced its own line of instant cameras and film. In 1990 Polaroid was awarded $909 million in the biggest patent-infringement judgment in history, but it was much too little and much too late. By then one-hour photo labs had arrived on the scene, followed by the ultimate game-changer: digital photography.

????Deep in debt and lacking the firepower needed to compete in digital, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy on October 13, 2001, a month after the September 11 attacks. The company has since been sold and resold several times, including one sale to a Minneapolis company that was interested in its real estate, art collection, and name. After the head of that firm was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme, Polaroid filed for a second bankruptcy.

????The company's last few years are covered in a slim chapter at the end of the book, along with a look at the Impossible FPU (for film processing unit), the latest in a long line of products to carry the Polaroid name. According to Bonanos, the current owner of the Polaroid label "doesn't know much about Edwin Land." And that, in a nutshell, says it all.

????Our Weekly read column features Fortune staffers' and contributors' takes on recently published books about the business world and beyond. We've invited the entire Fortune family -- from our writers and editors to our photo editors and designers -- to weigh in on books of their choosing based on their individual tastes or curiosities. Lawrence A. Armour is deputy editor of custom content for Fortune, Time, Money, and Sports Illustrated.