--- Herb Chong <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote：
> i reread the NIKKEI release and a couple of others.
<snip>
Here's my brief translation of the article;
=======================
28th Jan, Nikkei(Tokyo)
2nd stage for competition with DSLR
P&S spread over to consumers
Structural changes have been taking place in the
domestic(Japanese) digital camera market. P&S have spread
over to the consumers, and every manufacturer is beginning
to develop/sell SLR's earnestly. Panasonic, as the first
runner from electric appliances manufacturers, has
declared its entrance to DSLR market and the price range
will be expected to go down to 70-80 thousand JPY from 100
thousand. The digital camera market has come to the 2nd
stage, after Canon and Sony have won the 1st stage of P&S
market.
Pentax Corporation(Itabashi, Tokyo) is shifting its R&D
resources for digital cameras to DSLR. Around 70% of 300
engineers dealt with P&S, and the rest for SLR, before,
but the corporation is putting 60% of them to DSLR
research and development.
The corporation is not doing well in the compact digi-cam
market, whose main stream is around JPY30 thousand, with
its weaker brand than that of such electronics companies
as Sony. The average price of Pentax digi-cams have
fallen down by 30% in the 1st half of fiscal 2004, and its
digi-cam sector seems to have gone into the red. They
have "lost" the 1st game, and are trying to turn the
tables at the 2nd match.
Konica Minolta Photo Imaging(Shinjuku, Tokyo) is also
emphasising that the main target in the 2005 R&D is DSLR.
At the sales front, many experts are thinking that
consumers used to compact digi-cams are beginning to shift
their equipments to DSLR's. DSLR's hold only 4% of the
digi-cam market on the sales number basis. However,
manufacturers are eager to get larger share in the
domestic market, in order for favourable competition in
the international market.
Lower price DSLR's are the symbol for this eagerness.
DSLR's used to be, at least, JPY150 thousand, but Canon in
September 2003 and Nikon in March 2004 introduced consumer
model of slightly over JPY100 thousand. Olympus and
Pentax followed them last autumn. Panasonic,
collaborating with Olympus, is expected to introduce its
1st DSLR in the spring of 2006. DSLR market, as well as
compact digi-cam market, will be fierce battle of
development and sales.
The next step for consumer DSLR's will be the price range
of consumer film SLR's around JPY60-80 thousand. Canon,
Nikon, and Pentax are expected to introduce this price
range DSLR within this year.
This development/sales competition will be very tough.
Some minor manufacturer is thinking about exiting from the
compact digi-cam market, which is not profitable enough.
This trend may totally change the market share of
digi-cams.
==============================
Some figures from the article
CIPA's forecasts for 2005
(Digital camera)
Global sales: 72,200 thousand units(+20.8%)
JPN sales: 8,700 thousand units(+1.8%)
Int'l sales: 63,500 thousand units(+24%)
(Film camera)
Global sales: 6,400 thousand units(-36.5%)
Results for 2004
(Digital camera)
Global sales: 59,765,768 units (+37.7%)
Int'l sales: 51,218,888 units(+46.5%)
JPN sales: 8,546,880 units(+1.3%)
*on the price basis, JPN market fell down by 0.7%
(Film camera)
Global sales: 10,080 thousand units(-38.2%)
SLR sales: 1,198 thousand units(-48.9%)
=========================
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Takehiko Ueda
OSA, JPN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
