Canon ships 1.3M Digital SLRs in 2004 and plans 1.8M for 2005

[derek_linney]

From Canon press release:

<p>

Digital camera shipments will total 16.8m million units this year,

compared with 14 million units in 2004, as Canon increases sales in

Europe and other regions where the market isn't as saturated as in

Japan, senior managing director Toshizo Tanaka said at a press

conference in Tokyo.

<p>

The average price of digital cameras fell about 15% in 2004 and will

drop 10% this year, according to the company. But it has managed to

increase revenues and expects to ship 16.8 million cameras this

year, compared with 14.8 million units in 2004.

<p>

It expects to increase sales of digital single-lens reflex (SLR)

cameras to 1.8 million units in 2005, from 1.3 million units last

year.

[aljaz_.]

Nice. If they seriously believe to increase sales they'll either be dropping those silly prices or introduce something that 1.8m of slr users will be willing to buy for such monies. Full frame sensor with variable latitude and velvia & npc emulation modes anyone?

[Spearhead]

They got 1.3 million sold last year, why wouldn't they be able to get 1.8 this year? It's consistent with the growth they've seen in the past, and they say they're working to shift sales from digicams to dSLRs, which indicates a pricing strategy at the low end that worked with film cameras in the past.

[nello]

Yeah, and then after they shift people from digicams to dslrs, they can milk

money from the lens sales.

[jimstrutz]

That's the plan.

 

But I think they will have to cut prices to meet those goals.

[._._z]

They're being forced to anyway, considering the saturation of the Japanese market with

cameraphones -- 70% of the populace has a cellphone, and 85% of them have

cameraphones -- and the coming of 2MP, 3MP and even 5MP cameraphones (in Asia) by

the end of the year. Japan has alreadt seen a leveling off of low-end digital point-and-

shoots, and that market will continue to erode ... and this erosion will extend to the rest

of the world.

 

Getting people into cameras with interchangeable lenses, voice annotation, video and

the like will be necessary to keep up profits, as well as enable camer manufacturers to

lock consumers into their lens mounts, battery formats, etc.