Sony and Matsushita Launch Manufacturing and Selling of Digital Single-Lens Reflex Cameras

   Home appliance makers are cutting into the market for digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras, while such camera makers as Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp. have so far been unrivaled players in the markets. Sony Corp. introduced its first such product on June 6, followed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., which was to introduce its new product on June 21. Leading Japanese home appliance makers are entering the race in the manufacturing and selling of digital SLR cameras because the SLR camera production and selling still remain to be a lucrative business and provide a room for further business growth, while the markets for non-SLR digital cameras are beginning to be mature. The competition by the home appliance makers against the camera makers which would protect their precious source for profit is heating up.

The "α100" marketed by Sony. The brand of "α" was taken over.

   Sony was scheduled to start selling its new product "α100" on July 21. The company bought the SLR camera division of its business partner Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. in March this year. The α100 is the first product made by the development-and-designing personnel which Sony accepted from Konica Minolta. The new product took over the well-known brand name of old Minolta, α.
   The α100 is a model for beginners and its suggested retail price is around 100,000 yen for the body. The company is aiming at selling 500,000 units of the camera in fiscal 2006 ending in March 2007. It is said that there are 16 million interchangeable lenses for Konica Minolta cameras over the world, and Sony made it the pillar of the sales strategy to take over the photo fans who own the Konica Minolta cameras.

Just Being Compact is not Enough to be First-Class Product

   Digital cameras, especially the low-priced compact models, are rapidly becoming popular, and their markets are also rapidly becoming mature. According to the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA), the total domestic shipment of digital cameras in fiscal 2005 went down 1.2% from the previous year. SLR cameras, however, went up nearly by five fold at 551,000 units. The number is expected to rise close to 800,000 units by 2008. The prices of the compact type digital cameras often collapse as their markets mature. High-performance digital SLR cameras, on the other hand, are high priced and highly profitable. Sony and Matsushita took interest in both the future growth and profitability of the digital SLR cameras.
   "Unless SLR cameras are included in the line-up of the products, the brand name for cameras is not highly appraised." This is one of the major reasons why the two companies entered the SLR camera business. The two companies have already been reputed for their compact models. "But, camera enthusiasts would not highly appraise the brand name of the cameras if the two companies went on producing only compact (non-SLR) models," said officials of the camera industry.

Difficult to Start Digital SLR Camera Production Alone
Even for Giant Home Appliance Makers

   The digital SLR cameras are the high technology product which took the camera makers a long time to develop. Even for Sony and Matsushita, which are giants in the electrical appliance industry, it would be difficult to produce them alone. Sony formed the partnership with Konica Minolta, while Matsushita jointly developed the body with Olympus Corp. and the lenses with Germany's Leica Camera AG.
   To meet the new competitors, Canon is aiming at increasing the sales this year by 15% over last year. Nikon will also push for an increase of 30%. These two companies are determined to maintain their leadership in the industry. Tsuneji Uchida, President and COO of Canon, said, "No matter what other companies might do, we will take measures so that we won't lose." On the other hand, an official at Nikon commented, "It will bring positive effect to the industry as a whole that new brands are coming in. The market for SLR cameras might expand wider than we could expect."