Kodak, one of the world’s best-known photographic brands, is to launch a range of smartphones and tablets in 2015.

The first smartphone will be launched at the CES 2015 trade show in January, with a 4G handset, a tablet and a connected camera due to be confirmed in the second half of the year.

Mark Bridge writes:

Happy New Year!  It’s been three weeks since our last newsletter and a fortnight since our podcast of mobile predictions for 2013, so there’s plenty to catch up with.

Photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Company has arranged a deal that’ll see a consortium of companies paying around $525 million to buy and license over a thousand of its patents, including its digital imaging patent portfolio.

The consortium, which has been organised by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, is believed to contain Adobe Systems, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Fujifilm, Google, HTC, Huawei, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Samsung and Shutterfly.

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re starting the week with breaking (but not entirely unexpected) news that RIM has a new CEO. Just one, not two. We’ll be talking much more about him in Wednesday’s podcast. In fact, RIM’s announcement concludes a week that’s been packed with big names - and big money as well.

The Eastman Kodak Company - better known as simply Kodak - and its US subsidiaries have today filed voluntary petitions for ‘chapter 11’ business reorganisation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States.

The company has also filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics, alleging that certain Samsung tablets infringe five of Kodak’s digital imaging technology patents.