December 14, 1999 Web posted at: 10:49 a.m. EST (1549 GMT) by Ephraim Schwartz

From...

(IDG) -- Ofoto will launch its photo-finishing Web site this week with a so-called $50 million giveaway in free photos.

The company will give the first 1 million registrants to its site one hundred free photo prints. At a retail cost of 49 cents per print, Ofoto is claiming a $50 million retail value for the promotional launch. But because the offer expires on January 15, it is unlikely that Ofoto will actually get as many as 1 million registrants, according to Dave Taylor, chief strategist at Emarket Holdings in Stamford, Conn., thus greatly reducing its liability.

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Ofoto is one of two dot-com start-ups ready to go head-to-head next week in a battle for pre-eminence with a digital-processing service that is built around converting digital images to film-quality prints.

The other startup that will launch is Shutterfly.com. Shutterfly.com looks to convert digital photos to print.

Although both companies are offering similar services, their view of the market appears to be split along gender-based assumptions.

"Shutterfly.com was founded by women for women," said Seamus McAteer, an industry analyst at Jupiter Communications in New York City.

Two of the three founders are women, said co-founder Eva Manolis, vice president, Web Products and Services. The CEO is Jayne Spiefgelman, and the third co-founder, Dan Baum, is vice president, Lab Systems.

While the Web site is not especially targeted at women, the founders do believe that, at least initially, women are expected to make up the largest segment of the company's customer base.

According to Manolis, men may take the pictures, but women end up managing the fulfillment process, from getting snapshots developed to creating the family album, and sending copies out to friends and family.

"It [photo processing] happens to hit women. They tend to deal with errands and the grunge work, and we want to help save them from that," Manolis said.

According to the Photo Merchants Association, women in the traditional film processing market, added Manolis, manage 74 percent of photos.

Ofoto founder and chief product officer, Kamran Mohsenin disagreed.

"Over 80 percent of [digital camera] owners are men. Today, there is a lot of technology that needs to be understood. You first need to win over the early adopters, and they are largely men," Mohsenin said.

Photo finishing services from both companies will also include family and community Web pages for viewing, access by members of the community for ordering copies, and even sending back framed photos.

According to Ofoto's Mohsenin, digital photography will emulate the music industry, with digital cameras engulfing traditional film-based photography just as compact disks replaced tape and vinyl.